Stalked: His Obsession
by Susie G
Summary: Emily's in trouble! Her stalker is on loose, lurking around every corner. Will Hotch be able to keep her safe or will she end up at her stalker's mercy? It's all she can do to keep it together and when the stalker starts targeting the team to break her down she baits him. Will Hotch be able to save her or will he too become a victim?
1. Chapter 1

_Finally the sequel is up! I'm excited about this one and I hope you all enjoy!_

_I wanted to write a stalking story and I am pulling in many facts, from multiple stalking cases that I will incorporate into this story. Stalking is real and affects many people and too many times victims of stalkers recieve no justice and sometimes end up dead. (These facts will be coming from the ID series "Stalked" and "Obsession: Dark Desires". _

_I am also trying to convey Emily's emotions as real as possible, I try to put myself into the situation and I know I would be emotional and struggling with many different feelings. I will try and make this as realistic as possible._

_**"Secret" Spoiler if you haven't read it **__**(Read if you want to be caught up at start of this story):**__ Secret was about a man named Harvey that abused Emily profusely. At the end of Secret he escaped and began stalking her. Her and Hotch began a relationship in the last story. That is what sparked the idea for this story._

* * *

_**End of Secret:**_

...Hotch cupped Emily's face in his hands, "You listen to me. We will find him. You are going to be okay."

Emily mustered her courage and new determination. She regained control and fiercely she said, "Your right, we will find him." Emily stood up and looked at Hotch, "Let's go find this son of a bitch." Emily threw the picture on her desk and they went to work.

The picture lay like a bad omen, in black and white Emily was walking past her vehicle. Harvey had only been two cars down, taking her photograph. At the bottom of the picture was written in his blood:

_**I'm gonna get you.**_

_** Harvey **_

* * *

Hotch started giving orders.

"Garcia, find this guy. Get me anything and everything you can, pull the surveillance footage from the parking garage and the parking garage at Emily's apartment complex. If he was here, he's been following her."

"Yes sir, I'm all over it like sour on a lemon." Garcia hastily made her way to her lair with a heavy heart.

"JJ call the local PD and find out how Harvey escaped and when."

JJ was already dialing the number.

"Morgan, Rossi and Reid start developing a timeline as the information comes in. We already have a profile, but now that he's stalking Emily it's important to note the changes in his behavior and adjust accordingly."

Suddenly Emily's phone began ringing. The room immediately became thick with anticipation. Reid, Rossi, Morgan and Hotch were all quietly thinking the same thing, it had to be Harvey.

Emily's heart paced as she pulled out her phone. She met Hotch's eyes and her hand began to tremble, _oh God, what if it's him? What will I do? What am I going to say?_ Emily had just recovered from the horrible effects of her abusive relationship only to be immediately slammed into being the victim of a stalker. Just when she was pulling her life back together it was starting to fall apart, but the one thing that kept her sane was Hotch.

Hotch had come to know her like the back of his hand, he could read every look and expression she tried to mask and right now he saw she was begging for him to help, to make it stop. His heart ached for her. It was only just this morning he saw a glimpse of the old Emily, the strong vibrant young woman who had stolen his heart and now within a matter of minutes he saw her world shattering before his eyes, again.

Someone was hurting her, her eyes started glaze over with tears. Hotch took a few steps, to be closer to her. It had already been decided they would not show any public displays of affection at work but today was not a normal day. Hotch placed his hand tenderly in the small of her back and took the phone from her hand.

The phone kept ringing; it seemed almost evil as they pictured who was on the other end.

While Emily glanced to Hotch for some sense of what to do, she saw his eyes shift to understanding. Emily knew Hotch could see she was close to breaking and like many times before he came to stand by her side, giving her the strength and security she needed. When she felt his hand touch the small of her back, immediate electricity surged through her veins and she felt her emotion began to change into determination once again. Just as Hotch took the phone from her hand she retrieved it back and said, "I can do this."

"I know you can." Hotch said with a nod, confident she could follow through.

Emily started to glance at the number, all the while unconsciously holding her breath. When she saw it was her landlord, she sighed with relief and waved her hand towards the other members of the team, telling them it was okay.

Visibly you could see their shirts deflate from their air filled chests while their expressions spoke silently, saying, _we dodged a bullet, but for how long_.

Emily answered after the tension cleared, "Hello?"

"Hello, Emily. This is Leona your landlord." Said the elderly, sweet, southern voice through the receiver.

"Yes, Ms. Leona. Is Tiger being a nuisance again?" Emily assumed, smiling towards Reid, who rolled his eyes. With Reid's apartment next to Emily's he was well aware of Tiger's barking, it had kept him up all last night. Emily had even joked about it this morning when she first arrived at the BAU.

"No dear." Leona got quiet.

Emily heard, hums and haws coming from the landlord, as if she was uncertain on how to proceed. Emily's heart quickened. "Is everything okay?"

Hotch felt Emily tense beneath his palm as it still lay comfortingly against her back.

"Well Emily dear, I came upstairs to sweep the floor and your door was open. I went to shut it and noticed your apartment was…it looked as if someone had broken in. I called for Tiger and I never saw him. I thought maybe he was just scared since he wasn't use to my voice and was hiding in another room."

Emily fought to keep her composure. Tiger was not a timid kind of dog, at the very least he would have barked incessantly at Leona for even walking into the apartment. Her heart was pounding, she could feel the deep pulse beneath her finger tips, as her grasp began to tighten around the edge of her phone. Her stomach twinged threatening to purge the first enjoyable breakfast she had in a long time. Compartmentalizing as best as she could, she asked, trying to sound as nice as possible, "Did you touch anything?" Hoping with every hope that Ms. Leona just left her apartment alone so they could comb it for clues. It was already obvious to Emily who had come into her apartment.

"No dear I didn't. I went to shut your door, so Tiger wouldn't get out and it wouldn't shut. I was going to call the cops, but I thought since you were an agent and all…"

_But if Tiger didn't answer, he had to be dead. Could he have ran down the stairs? Did Harvey take him? _Emily caught the concerned glances of the other agents. She saw their chests again tighten and their expressions become taut. Their looks made it seem more real than what she wanted to believe. She turned her back to them and said, "You did the right thing. We will be there in a few minutes." She hung up the phone and stared at the wall as she fought back the tears.

"He went to your apartment didn't he?" Morgan asked.

Emily nodded in response to Morgan's question and then started walking out of the room. She was upset andyet still determined, somehow she was feeling those emotions simultaneously and it caused her to become driven, even if it was for a short amount of time.

Hotch looked at the rest of the team, "Reid and Rossi come with us. Morgan get with Garcia and JJ and…"

"I'm already on it." He said making his way towards Garcia's lair.

* * *

In the SUV Emily took the wheel and sped off to her apartment. Hotch was in the passenger seat and Reid and Rossi were occupying the back.

Reid began thinking outloud, "You walked into the bull pen around 9:04, on average it takes around five minutes to get up-stairs..."

Emily sighed, "I always stop on the third floor." She looked at Hotch, who eyed her with a stoic curiosity. He looked as if he had been decieved, but Emily could tell he was just wanting to know what she did, hoping it would help put the pieces together, so Reid could deciepher the timline accurately. Emily continued, "When I first started working here I had to go to human resources and I passed by a breakroom with minature cinnamon rolls setting out. Guilty pleasure I guess. After I realized they had them all the time it became a habit." Emily shrugged her shoulders as she saw Hotch almost grin at this knew bit of information.

Hotch always loved learning something knew about Emily. There was so much more to her than anybody realized.

Emily stopped at the red light in front of them. She turned around and looked over the top of her seat towards Reid, "It adds about ten minutes."

"Okay so that means you would have arrived at 8:49, that's when Harvey would have took the picture. The picture arrived in the office at precisely 9:15. He must of disguised himself and passed along the envelope to someone he knew would take it in the building. It must be someone who arrives around 8:50."

The light turned green and Emily only had a mile left before she got to the apartments.

"I'll call Morgan." Rossi said pulling out his phone, to pass along the information.

Reid finished, "That would have given him just enough time to get to the apartment and leave before Ms. Leona saw him. She had to of just missed him."

Hotch asked, "Does Ms. Leona always sweep regularly?"

"Every Monday and Friday around 9:30. She was lucky she didn't run into him." Reid stated.

The SUV was quiet a moment while Rossi spoke to Morgan.

"He went into the apartment for a single pre-planned purpose." Rossi inferred after putting away his phone.

"Yeah, to take my dog." Emily banged her fist against the steering wheel in frustration. She felt her anger again, begin to build. A single statement invaded her mind and began to fester. It was something Hotch said a long time ago, _things will get better, I promise. _Emily felt her chest begin to heave just before she spoke her mind. When the moment came it surprised all the passengers, "You were wrong Hotch!"

Hotch was caught off guard, he wasn't sure what he was wrong about and was at a loss for words.

Emily barely gave enough silence for the statement to settle when she just had to keep going, "You promised Hotch, you said things would get better and they aren't. Instead of being abused I'm being stalked and just like before he will slip through the justice system and I will end up dead."

Reid felt uncomfortable with all the emotion. He wasn't sure he was supposed to be listening to the conversation so he looked out the window.

Rossi saw her starting to fall apart. It was one emotion after another.

Hotch still didn't know how to respond and honestly didn't want to. He felt anything he said would have made it worse.

Silence hung awkwardly as they pulled into the apartment complex. As soon as the SUV came to a stop Emily bolted from the vehicle with Hotch first in tow.

Emily ran up the stairs to her apartment, swiftly passing Ms. Leona who was descending the stairs with a broom. Emily didn't bother to stop and Hotch feeling obligated said, "Excuse us Ms. Leona." He had come to know Ms. Leona when he helped Emily move into the apartment.

When Emily reached her apartment door she stopped and looked into her apartment. The door was slightly cracked and splintered wood was sticking out of the door jam. She felt Hotch stop behind her. After a brief moment, Hotch walked past Emily and into her apartment. Emily followed slowly. When she finally stepped all the way in she saw that cushions were flipped and lamps had been thrown onto the floor, some of them even broke. Hotch had went all the way through her apartment and hastily made his way back into the living room, "It's clear but Tiger isn't here."

"He wouldn't be." Emily stated. Her eyes teared up as she noticed a photo out of place on her coffee table.

"What is it?" Hotch asked.

Rossi and Reid stepped into the apartment.

Emily walked over to the picture and picked it up. Tears traced down her cheeks and she closed her eyes so she didn't have to see.

Hotch took the picture and handed it to Rossi who shared it with Reid.

The picture was of Tiger and written on the glass frame was _Ha Ha. _"He's taunting her." Reid stated.

Hotch hesitated to comfort Emily after her outburst in the car, but felt he should attempt it anyways, "Emily?" He placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping for a response. He couldn't give up on her despite what she said, considering the circumstances it was a more than normal reaction to be angry, especially at an unkept promise.

Emily turned and leaned into his chest, "What am I going to do?" Emily remembered how she had yelled at Hotch and immediately had regrets, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I just am...I...I don't know. I want this to end, I'm so tired of it all." In that moment Emily didn't care anymore, she had been broken, the team had saw it all. Rossi and Hotch had saw her at her lowest moments and Reid shared his deepest concerns wtih her so they shared a special relationship and in all her vulnerability, completely exposed, the care had gone as she cried into Hotch's chest.

Hotch embraced her, gently rubbing her back as he felt the tears dampen his neatly pressed shirt.

Emily's phone began to ring, disrupting the moment. Reluctantly she pulled away from Hotch's arms, wiped her tears and sniffled a few times. When she was composed enough she instinctively answered her phone, thinking it was one of the team members, ignoring the screen as she put it directly to her ear, "Hello."

"I thought you were stronger than that..." The words came hissing like a snake.

Emily's eyes widened and the agents knew who was on the other line.

Hotch grabbed her cell and hit speaker, standing less than a foot away he saw the brunette, fractured by fear, red faced, teary eyed and filled with so much pain. Emily's distraught appearance caused his protective side to overwhelm the rational side as he spoke, "I'm going to find you Harvey and when I do your going to wish you were dead."

"Awww...don't make promises you can't keep. You already disappointed Emily but it looks as if she has forgiven you after that sobbing hug she just gave you."

Rossi and Reid began to look around, they either had to be on camera or Harvey could physically could see them and considering the placement of Emily's apartment they had to be on camera.

"You'll never find it." Harvey said through the phone.

"Just leave me alone! Why me? Please just stop this!" Emily pleaded.

"Aren't you even going to aske me about Tiger?" Harvey asked, seemingly upset that she seemed to be ignoring the obvious.

The room was silent.

"Fine, don't ask, but when you get him back he won't be the same dog you had before."

"Just let him go! Please don't hurt him!" Emily said.

"Your going to pay for this Harvey." Hotch told him.

"Promises, promises." Harvey taunted Hotch.

"I made no promise, I'm stating the facts and I will find you."

"Good luck." Harvey laughed and disconnected the call leaving nothing but a dial tone, all the agents exchanged glances wtih one another in horror and helplessness.

* * *

_I'd love to know what you th_ought! Much much more to come and I can't wait!


	2. Chapter 2

_Another chapter! Thank you all for the nice reviews and I hope you are enjoying!_

* * *

Hotch handed Emily her phone back, "You're staying with me tonight." He sounded adament and demanding.

"You can't tell me what to do. I have to stay here I can't give into him." Emily reciprocated very emotionally.

Hotch narrowed his eyes and told her in an almost harsh but subtle tone, "It's not safe here."

"It's not safe anywhere, Aaron." Emily used his first name and only did she use it on rare occasions. It was either because she was being seductive, romantic or trying to make a point.

"Your right, but I can't leave you alone." Hotch said calmly but sternly. He loved her too much to put her in that kind of danger.

"You'll have to. Let me bait him and this will all be over with, he'll come and I'll either end up dead or he will."

"Not a chance." Rossi stepped in.

"Guys he may be able to hear us." Reid said timidly, not wanting to be involved in the conversation. He avoided eye contact and glanced around the room again for a camera.

"I don't care anymore!" Emily blurted sitting down in the nearest recliner and resting her head in her hands. She was defeated.

Rossi tried directing everyone's attention to the crime scene. He was afraid all this tension would create an explosive scene and that's just exactly what Harvey wanted. "Look around, why would he turn up the cushions and knock over lamps? It's obvious he came to get the dog, but why the mess?"

Reid stepped up, now relaxed that they were focused on analyzing the scene, instead of being caught up in a whirlwind of emotions. "Rossi's right. It would have been more indiscreet to come in, get the dog and leave. There are also more efficient ways of breaking in." Reid said observing the open apartment door.

Hotch looked around, "He was trying to make it look disorganized on purpose. He wanted to make a statement."

Emily sighed and looked up, rubbing her hands back through her hair, "Hotch is right, he just wanted to make a statement. He's just trying to rattle me and its working. Harvey was trying to do as much as he could in what little time he had, I guess turning up cushions and breaking my new Peir 1 lamps were the most obvious or mind numbing thing he could think of." Emily picked up a cushion and threw it across the room, towards her entertainment center, knocking her rack of dvds all over the floor.

"You feel better?" Rossi asked.

"No I want my dog back and I just want this to be over." Emily took off down the hall.

"Where are you going?" Hotch asked concerned.

"To get some clothes, it doesn't look like I'm going to be staying here. Besides if I stay here, it puts Reid in immenent danger and I can't risk that." Emily then disappeared into her bedroom.

"Reid will stay with me." Rossi said.

"Guys he could hear us talking. If he does it won't matter where we stay." Reid said, his voice becoming a little high pitched.

"He's a stalker, he'll know what we do anyway. Emily's his obsession, he will know everything about her, her life, her aquantances and friends. We need to figure out his motive. My assumption is he's in this to break Emily down and slowly torment her by hurting us and that means we are all in danger. If he wanted just Emily he would of already had her." Hotch said.

"He's taken Tiger." Rossi said reluctantly, "What does that tell us?"

"Were all in danger." Reid said.

Hotch looked down the hallway towards Emily's room, "Let's remember Harvey's focus is on torturing Emily. He will hurt her as much as he can emotionally and physically when he gets the chance." Hotch looked at Reid, "Reid pack a bag, your staying with Rossi. I'm going to help Emily. When were ready, we need to get back to the BAU and formulate a plan to keep us safe, while also trying to find Harvey."

"It will just take a minute and I have to get some books and make sure..." Reid's voice trailed off as he walked out of Emily's apartment and next door to his.

Rossi looked at Hotch and said jokingly, "Give us at least five minutes."

Hotch barely grinned and reluctantly headed down the hall. As he approached Emily's bedroom he could hear her mumbling, breathing hard and throwing stuff around all in a mix of sniffles. He turned the corner and stood in the doorway.

"I know your standing there." Emily inferred with her back to him.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Hotch asked.

"No." Emily walked over to her dresser and grabbed a handful of clothes and then walked back over to her bed and threw them in her suitcase. "I'm sorry I'm so angry one minute and crying the next. I can't figure this out, I'm scared and I don't want you all to die or get hurt. I just had to go out with him." Emily sighed, "Why did I have to be so stupid. I profile for a living and I couldn't see there was something wrong wtih this guy. Maybe I deserve this."

Hotch stepped up and placed a hand on each of her shoulders, guiding her around to face him. "You don't deserve this. No one does. You will get through this and we will find him."

Emily grabbed one of Hotch's hands and squeezed it. She sat on her bed and pulled Hotch down to take a seat next to her. She clutched Hotch's hand making it seem as if she let go, she might be all alone and said, "My heart hurts Hotch. If he doesn't kill me the stress from all this will. I've felt sick constantly all morning. My chest hurts, my head hurts, even my jaw hurts from clinching my teeth. What do I do, I can't live like this."

"This is what you do." Hotch used his free hand and brushed Emily's hair away from the left side of her face. He then rested his palm on the side of her face.

Emily closed her eyes, feeling the comfort of his warmth, she opened them after a moment and asked, "What do you mean, by this is what you do?"

"This morning, since the moment you saw the pictures you haven't stopped talking. You told me how you felt, you've cried, you've yelled, you've been angry and you've been still. You were courageous and determined. You are coping with this as it happens, your holding nothing back. Instead of letting all these emotions destroy you, you are feeling them instead of masking them and the way I see it, that's an admirable feat."

"It's not easy and I'm so embarassed, I can't even describe how embarassed I am."

"I know it can't be easy and I can't begin to imagine what your going through. You have come so far in the past few months and you now have the tools to cope. Don't shut us out, keep talking to us and we will help you the best we can."

"It's a deal." Emily said, leaning her head on Hotch's shoulder.

Hotch kissed the top of her head, "You're going to get through this."

"I know we need to leave, but can I just hug you a minute?" Emily wrapped her arms around Hotch and his arms wrapped tightly around her fit frame. After about a minute Emily said, "I needed that."

"Anytime." Hotch replied. They pulled apart, "Now what do you say we finish packing?"

"Yeah." Emily's phone began to ring again. She looked at it and slumped, resting her head in her palms, "It's him."

"Were not answering it." Hotch told her.

"What?" Emily snapped, "Won't that make him mad?"

"Of course, but he obviously doesn't have any message to give you except to taunt you. Turn it off and ignore it."

"What about the team?" Emily asked.

"I'll make everyone aware they should not use your number for contact."

After stuffing a few more things in her suitcase, Emily shut her luggage, ready to leave and said, "Let the games begin."

* * *

When Hotch, Rossi, Reid and Emily arrived back at the BAU everyone met in the conference room.

Morgan began, "I tracked down the man who Harvey handed the package over to this morning, It was Agent Vickers. Agent Vickers never even second guessed taking the package, Harvey was dressed in a FED EX uniform and acted as if he was in a hurry because he had just recieved a call, stating his wife went into labor. Agent Vickers even saw him get off the phone before he approached."

"Well planned." Rossi stated.

"In fact he was very organized, he had a rouse, fake phone call and even a uniform." Reid reiterated.

Hotch looked to Garcia, "Garcia did you find him on any of the survelliance cameras?"

"Yes sir. In fact he is all over them, he didn't try to be discreet. There were times he even looked straight into the camera and smiled. That's was all kinds of creepy by the way."

"Your telling me." JJ added.

"There is one more thing." Garcia went to add. "He was wearing the FED EX uniform in all the videos and his hair was blonde."

"So he has a wig or has died it." Emily said.

"How did he escape?" Hotch asked.

JJ stepped up, "Simple hit and run."

"Has he called anymore?" Morgan asked.

Emily pulled her phone out of her pocket and layed it on the table. "It's been turned off."

"What? That will just antagonize him." Morgan stated.

Hotch inferred his opinion, defending Emily, "Yes, but it is one less thing she has to worry about."

Morgan was becoming a little angry, the whole situation made him mad anyways, he just hated seeing Emily suffer, "He could escalate and what happens when he gets your telephone number Hotch? He probably already has it, has all of ours in fact."

"That is something else we need to talk about." Hotch said. "We all could be in danger and its important no one is left alone, or goes anywhere on their own. Rossi already suggested on the ride back that you all are welcome to stay at his place."

"What about you and Emily?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, Hotch wouldn't it be safer if you and Emily stayed at Rossi's too?" Morgan asked.

Emily stood up, "No it wouldn't. There is a gurantee he will come after me, but there is no guarantee he will come after all of you."

"We are a team." Morgan stated.

Emily became mad again, "Don't you think I know that?"

"Then we should be together." Morgan told her.

Emily walked over to Morgan and gently touched the side of his face, "Morgan I know you care about me, I can see that but I can't focus on catching Harvey when I'm worried about all of you and this is the only way I know how to do that. Please trust that." Emily pleaded with him.

Morgan gave in, "Okay."

Emily walked back over to stand next to Hotch.

Morgan looked at Hotch, "You better take care of her."

Hotch was defensive in his reply, "I will."

"So what do we do?" JJ asked.

Hotch answered, "Garcia keep tracking all of his movements. We need to know every move he makes, he's smart and probably will only use cash. He could be stealing it, so we don't catch him making any withdraws, or his family and friends could be getting the money for him. Thinking like him will help us get one step ahead. Lets not forget he too was an agent and knows our methods. We have surveillance watching his house, it's likely he won't go home but we will be waiting if he takes a chance."

There was a few moments of silence then JJ asked, "So we just wait right now?"

Hotch replied, "Yes. Until Garcia finds something or Harvey makes a move all we can do is start charting and posting his timeline on the board. It's important to see his evolution and we need to add more to his history than we have before." The team went straight to work after that and stayed busy the rest of the evening.

Time passed agonizingly slow and finally late into the night there came a point when the team found a seat and were at a dead stand still with little to no progress. Hotch finally made the call for everyone to go home for the evening, or rather Rossi's home. The team hated to abandon their work, but sleep was necessary for all of them to have a clear head the next day so they complied and left.

* * *

As Hotch pulled onto his street with Emily in the passenger seat they both became immediately alarmed. "You see that don't you?" Emily asked.

"Yes." Hotch replied.

"What are you going to do?" Emily pulled out her gun.

Hotch paid close attention as his headlights shifted past his yard. All his outside lights were off along with his inside lights creating a dark abyss. "I"m not going to react. I'm goingt to pull into the driveway like I normally would. I don't want him to think his taunts are working."

Emily was nervous, "But what if they are?"

"You'll be okay. Think of him like any other un-sub. You are hunting him and this is just a lead."

Emily focused on the darkness as they pulled into Hotch's driveway. _Since when is electricity being shut off a lead? _She thought. Sarcastically she remarked, "Nice, none of the surrounding light even attempts to illuminate your yard and house. He could be hiding anywhere."

Hotch stopped the car and pulled out his gun, "You'll be okay. I would tell you to stay here but that's probably what he wants and I'm not going to risk that." Without prolonging it any further Hotch stepped out of the vehicle, Emily followed his lead reluctantly.

From the vehicle they began to approach the front steps when they noticed the front door was cracked open half way.

"Oh God. Do you think he's in there?" Emily whispered, clinching her gun.

A slight noise could be heard coming from behind the door. Emily wanted to run and call the police, but technically they were the police, they were trained for this. If Harvey was waiting for them they had to be ready. "Did you hear that? Do you think it was him?" Emily asked in the stillness of the dark night. A eerie breeze swept past her face

Hotch could feel his heart racing, Harvey had the upper hand. He looked behind him at Emily, "There is only way to find out."

* * *

_I'd love to know what you thought! Thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Warning, sexual content in this chapter! _

_All the reviews, reads and likes are much appreciated! Thank you!_

_Happy Reading!_

* * *

Emily was focused on her breathing which inadvertently made it worse. She was trying to be as quiet as possible and as they reached the top of the stairs and prepared to enter through the front door, she felt herself begining to panic. _Calm down Emily, just calm down. You're not alone, Hotch is with you, you're fine, you're trained for this._

Hotch was closest to the front door, the suspense made his heart quiver with anticipation. There was almost a sliver of hope, that in just a matter of moments this would all be over. He looked over his shoulder and Emily's eyes beamed at him, panic-stricken. Silently he paused to see if she would give him a visual cue that she was ready but nothing happened, he turned back around, facing the front door and heard a whimper. Hotch wasn't about to wait any longer, he kicked the door the rest of the way open and together him and Emily stormed into the house.

Emily went right towards the living, while Hotch went left towards the kitchen. It was in the kitchen where Hotch spotted Tiger, cowered in the corner whimpering. For the time being he had to ignore him and keep checking the house.

The only lights to be seen were the glock lights, scanning every inch of each room and closet for any sign of Harvey. After every nook and cranny was checked, both agents ended up at the back door that was hanging wide open. They both dropped their arms in disappointment.

Emily soon after ran into the kitchen where she flipped on the light and was relieved to see it worked.

Hotch thought to himself, _he must of just turned off the lights and didn't actually cut off the electricity completey. _He was grateful for that.

Emily knelt down near Tiger and softly spoke to him, "Hey baby." Tiger whimpered in response and backed impossibly further away, trying to stuff himself under the cabinets. "What's wrong baby? It's mommy." Tiger whimpered louder and snapped at Emily as she reached to touch him. Emily reacted by putting both hands on her face and she began to cry. She stood up and turned her back to Tiger. "Get rid of him." She said under her breath to Hotch.

Hotch wanted to argue, but the look on Emily's face said the relationship with her canine compainion had been severed, never to be re-united. Hotch's heart was now the one aching. He remembers when Emily and Tiger first met, it was perfect and they seemed inseperable. Now the damage had been done. It was one thing to take a dog, but to be so merciless and destroy it's character was a demon of it's own, one Emily was tormented with herself. If Harvey was good at something, he was good at breaking people down and destroying their souls.

Tiger whimpered again, "Please Hotch, do something. Get rid of him." Every whimper made her think of Harvey and she didn't even want to imagine what he did to her dog.

Hotch wasn't sure what to do. He hated being insensitive but he thought to himself, _It's not like there is a dog rehab. _Hotch made a call to the local shelter and about a half hour later they came and retrieved Tiger.

The scene was not a pleasant one, he barked, growled and snapped as the people tried to take him in. Unfortunately they ended up having to put him to sleep with a dart gun just to extract him. Emily ended up running out of the room during the middle of all the commotion. She ran into the first bedroom she came to and slammed the door behind her. Emily covered her ears and rocked back and forth as she sat on the bed. She squeezed her eyes shut as hard as she could and waited. The next thing Emily knew, she was being shaked and her eyes shot open to Hotch kneeling down in front of her. Immediately she fell into his open arms, "Oh God Hotch, what did Harvey do to him?"

"I don't know baby, but it's all over now." Hotch tried to be comforting as she heaved, sobbing under his grasp. Kneeling on the hard wood floor, he was literally holding the upper half of her body completely.

Emily had been drained of any strength and let Hotch support her as he held her in his arms. "What do I do Hotch? I can't take this. What am I going to do?" Emily could barely speak as she gasped for air between breaths.

"Right now you don't have to do anything. I'm here. Just let go." The moment stopped abruptly, like a knife piercing their beating hearts as Hotch's cell began to ring. Slowly he sat Emily up where she rested her bum on the backs of her heels. Hotch firmly kept one hand on her to keep her steady as he pulled out his phone, "It's Dave." Hotch clicked the recieve button and said, "What is it Dave?" Hotch kept his eyes on Emily, deeply concerned for her, watching to make sure she didn't lose conciousness or start to hyperventilate.

"It's JJ."

Hotch stayed quiet to let Rossi continue.

"Morgan went with her to her apartment so they could get some clothes to stay at my place. When she opened the door to her apartment she was shot."

"Is she?" When Hotch asked that question Emily gasped.

"No. The bullet hit her in the leg. It missed her bone but ripped her thigh to pieces."

"Did they get him?" Hotch asked, still looking at Emily.

"He wasn't there." Rossi told him.

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked keeping a low tone, trying not to become too excited.

"He broke into her house and rigged it to where when she opened the door the gun went off. It was obvious he had no intention of killing her, he just wanted to wound her, the gun was placed too low."

Emily began to tug on Hotch's sleeve, "What is it?" She whispered, desperate to know what happened.

"Where is she now?"

Rossi sighed, "Were all at the hospital with her, right now. All of us are going to stay overnight. I thought it best we stay together."

"Good. Keep me updated and we'll be in touch." Hotch told him, still he glanced towards the now pleading eyes from Emily.

"Will do. Just take care of our girl."

The call was disconnected.

"What is it? What happened? Tell me." Emily squeezed on his arm, that was supporting her.

Hotch put his phone away, dropped his head briefly and looked back at Emily.

"Be straight with me." Emily begged, still trying to catch her breath, from crying so profusely.

Hotch began, "When Morgan took JJ to her apartment..."

Emily started to shake her head, tears streaming down her face she started heaving again, "No, please don't tell me, not JJ."

Hotch decided not to draw it out and continued hurriedly, "Harvey broke into her apartment and rigged a gun to go off when she entered. It wasn't intended to kill her. The bullet tore through her leg. She is okay and they are all at the hospital."

Emily began to gasp and quickly covered her mouth as she stumbled to the bathroom. The bile was forcing its way up her throat and she forced it back down until she reached the white tile floor of Hotch's guest bathroom. Her knees hit the floor and she pulled herself up to the toilet emptying the contents of her stomach.

Hotch was right on her heels. Just as Emily leaned over in the toilet he grabbed her hair to keep it out of her face. The sound made his own stomach churn, not out of disgust but because the woman he had grown to love was suffering. If Harvey didn't kill her the stress and trauma of the stalking and constant terror would. When she was finished, desperately trying to catch her breath, Hotch flushed the toilet, slowly let go of her hair and reached for a washcloth that he dampened with cold water.

Emily sat back and leaned against the wall, across from the toilet. Staring at the porclein bowl just made her realize how embarassed she was. Pale and drained she didn't want to move. Emily let her eyes start to close when she soon felt the damp cloth gently rub along the side of her face. She opened her eyes.

Hotch was sitting next to her. After brushing the cloth around her face, he made a sweep under her hair, along the base of her neck, "How do you feel?" He asked.

Emily closed her eyes and found comfort in the care Hotch was giving her. The cool cloth was welcomed against her the hot feeling in her face. "It feels good. Thank you."

Hotch finally let the cloth rest on her neck, from there he put his fingers through Emily's raven tendrils, cupping the base of her head, tenderly he placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'm going to grab a mint for you. I'll be right back."

"Hurry back." Emily opened her eyes and looked at the man standing in the bathroom doorway and even though he was just going down the hall she longed for him.

"I will." He told her.

Emily started to feel vulnerable while Hotch was absent. Staring at the open doorway a thought began to creep into her mind, _What_ _if Harvey walks in instead of Hotch? Has he already took Hotch out_? _Did we miss him? Is he really in the house and we just don't know it?_ Emily pulled her knees into her chest and waited. The seconds seemed like a minute.

Everything became eerily quiet, she could hear her heart beating rapidly against her chest. She felt her weak frame begin to tremble. Suddenly a door shut in the distance and footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. They approached closer...closer...closer...the steps were heavy against the hardwood, soon they were heard just outside the bathroom door. "Aaron?" Emily whispered.

When Hotch rounded the corner he saw Emily jump, out of fear. "It's okay, its just me."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She cried, clearly upset again, by her reaction.

Hotch wrapped his arms around her, "It's okay." His face was stern and had remained stern the whole evening, but his eyes were caring and spoke leaps and bounds to Emily beyond the stoicness of the wrinkles in his face. The situation was serious and his blood boiled, this had to end.

"Can you shut the door?" Emily asked as her head lay on his shoulder.

"Yes, of course." Hotch pulled away, handing her the mint and shut the bathroom door.

"Lock it." Emily sounded desperate as she tore through the paper wrapped around the mint.

Hotch locked it and took a seat on the floor, next to Emily. He pulled Emily into him and found a comfortable spot in the corner between the wall and edge of the bathroom door.

"Is JJ going to be okay?" Emily asked, not for sure if she had already heard Hotch tell her she would be okay.

"She will be fine." Hotch assured Emily.

"We should go see her." Emily said wearily.

"She's okay. The team is with her. It's best if we stay here."

"We're just baiting him aren't we?" Emily said while working on drying up her tears.

"Right now, were just resting." Hotch told her as he caressed her head, rubbing his hand down her silky, smooth hair.

"Do you mind if I fall asleep? For the first time all day I feel safe."

"Of course." Hotch grabbed a towel, hanging from the rack and draped it over her body, to keep her warm.

In the quiet, Hotch too fell asleep. A few hours passed and Emily began to stir, Hotch slowly came to. His back ached and his neck was stiff. He hated to adjust with the fear of waking Emily and was happy to be totally uncomfortable if it meant she could sleep.

Emily had come to rest her head on his thighs, facing away from his torso. Her right hand clung loosely to Hotch's as they rested on her hip, fingers interlaced.

Hotch once again started rubbing her head and noticed the V in her shirt had been pulled down exposing the side of her ample breast. In his dreary state Hotch could feel himself becoming aroused. This almost angered him only because this was not the time or place. He tried to adjust and looked away from Emily's chest, focusing on the pattern in the tile.

With Hotch's movement Emily began to awaken. Her eyes blinked slowly, forcing conciousness and when she was finally able to hold them open she noticed the bulge protruding under Hotch's black slacks. She let go of Hotch's hand and grabbed his throbbing heat lightly at first and then firmly she squeezed emitting a low gasp from Hotch.

Hotch had tensed and said, "Emily." almost as if asking her to stop, just by the tone in his voice.

"Don't tell me to stop." Emily said quietly. She started to stroke her hand slowly up and down the length of his shaft.

Hotch began to take deep breaths, he closed his eyes. "Emily...I'm sorry we shouldn't." Hotch tried to tell her.

Emily looked at Hotch, "Do you want me to stop?"

Hotch didn't want to answer. Her fingers were placed so perfectly as she slid her hand rhythmically up and down, just teasing the rim of his head, through the fabric of his pants.

Emily said, "Right now my mind is free of Harvey, focused only on you. I want this Aaron."

"Okay." Hotch breathed with pleasureable anticipation.

Emily sat up and began to unbutton his pants. Hotch's member pulsed, begging for contact. When Emily un-did the zipper the army green from his cotton boxers pushed through. Emily slowly unbuttoned the boxers. Hotch couldn't resist anymore and his pelvis thrust, pushing through the open hole. Emily leaned down and began to slowly trace her tongue around the rim of the exposed head. It twitched under her pleasure. Hotch leaned his head against the bathroom door. He was holding his breath, gasping sporadically with each surge of indulging ecstacy.

Emily began to suck strongly on his member as if sucking the juices off a lolipop. The sensation was exilerating and Hotch couldn't help but thrust into her. Discreetly he began to expel short moans as he breathed. His eyes remained closed as he fought to stay still, pressing his head further into the door. Emily placed her hands on the underside of his thighs and felt his muscles tense as the pleasure heightend.

Emily stopped and looked at Hotch, she felt her middle become moist, soaking the cotton fabric of her panties. She started unbuttoning his dress shirt, pulling the rest of what was stuck in his pants free. Softly she ran her hands up his undershirt, feeling every muscle beneath her palm and finally she reached his nipples and pinched harshly. This time Hotch released a grunt raising himself into her. Emily moved back down to his shaft and once again began to entice him.

Hotch gripped the towel laying in the floor next to him, "Don't stop." He barely got out.

Emily intractly moved her tongue along the nerve that continuously pulsed as she moved steadily up and down. Every now and then she would lightly rake her teeth the length of his cock teasing the rim of Hotch's head.

Hotch's legs began to tremble, he raised into her. "Ah...faster." The words flowed from his mouth like carmel, low, smooth and soft.

Emily moved her head more quickly, up and down tightening the suction around her lips.

Hotch gasped, "Oh...Ah...keep going." His moans became intense and consistent one after the other. Hotch had completely raised his pelvis off the floor as he felt the sensation reaching it's peak. His moans quickened and became shorter, "Ah...ah...ah...don't stop." His left hand pressed into the tile while his right still clutched the towel. He felt Emily's palms begin to squeeze his thighs, her nails digging into him through the fibers of his pants. With one last long moan he released into her.

Emily gulped with each pulse as the warm juice released into her mouth.

When Hotch was finished thrusting with each shot, he slowly lowered himself back down.

Emily raised up and looked at Hotch, licking her succulent lips. He rested against the bathroom door, catching his breath. His undershirt shaped the firm muscles hidden beneath the soft cotton, highlighting his pecks and ripped abs. His dress shirt hung open, with the bottom hem resting on the tile floor and further down his pants had only slipped slightly exposing a low, fit waistline, with a partial black waist band of his boxers peeking out.

"Thank you." Hotch told her after partially catching hs breath. He reached out his arms and Emily crawled into them.

"I enjoyed it." Emily said snuggling in. "Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

In the solace of the locked bathroom a unexpected noise caming ringing through the wooden door. Emily squeezed her arms tightly around Hotch, burying her face into his chest, "The team wouldn't call the house would they?"

Hotch sighed, "No."

"It's Harvey."

"Yeah baby, it's him."

"Make it stop, just make it stop." Emily cried and slowly the tears seeped through the threads of Hotch's shirt as the ringing continued incessently.

* * *

_I'd love to know what you think! I hope you are enjoying it!_


	4. Chapter 4

_I apologize for the late update, my husband has been ill and I've not had time to write. Things are all better now and I'm excited to make some updates! Thank you all for all the support and reviews and like on this story!_

_Happy Reading!_

* * *

As exhausted as Garcia was, it was hard for her to find a comfortable place to allow her body to rest. She looked around the hospital room and quickly noticed she was the only one who had yet to fall asleep. Rossi and Morgan were laid up on the extra bed, Reid was in a chair next to hers, awkwardly folded in, but sleeping soundly. Garcia yawned and noisely sat up from the chair that threatened to wake the closely sleeping agents. She rubbed her neck that was sore from resting it on the wooden arm rests. Silently she regretted not taking Morgan's offer to sleep in the extra bed. Quietly she stood to her feet and tip toed out of the room. Out in the hall her eyes adjusted to the florescent light, she yawned again and made her way to the bathroom.

The hospital was eerily quiet, in the early morning hours. As Garcia turned past the waiting room she saw the women's bathroom door swing shut. She paused a moment and looked down the hall where she saw a nurse returning to the check-in-station. Garcia sighed with relief and went into the bathroom. She came to the first stall, locked herself in and relieved the forcing pressure from her bladder. When she was finished, she flushed the toilet and adjusted her purple cupcake pajamas. Just as she went to unlock the stall she heard a click above her head and a voice that sent chills up her spine, "I wouldn't move if I were you."

Garcia gasped and looked up. Harvey was hanging over the top of the stall with a gun pointing down at her.

With one swift move Harvey jumped over the top of the stall and landed swiftly on top of the toilet before jumping to the floor.

"Please don't hurt me." Garcia's voice cracked as fear consumed her trembling frame. Instinctively she backed into the locked, bathroom stall door. She was trapped, with Harvey standing face to face in front of her. His smile made sent a chilling wave a goosebumps, covering her body. "Please don't hurt me." Garcia pleaded, turning her head away from him and closing her eyes briefly to let the tears trace down her cheeks.

"You know I can't do that." Harvey whispered.

"No." Garcia barely mumbled, pleading with the simple words, opening her eyes.

Harvey raised the gun over Garcia's head and just before she let out a blood curdling scream, he brought it down with bone crushing force connecting the gun with the side of her head, knocking her out cold.

* * *

Hotch and Emily still sat in the bathroom, listening to the muffled sound of a ringing phone.

"We need to un-plug your phone." Emily told him exhaustingly, with her head resting on Hotch's chest.

"He probably has my cell. It won't do any good. My cell is the only way I can keep in contact with the team."

Emily sighed with defeat. "How do we get ahead of him?"

Hotch's cell began to ring.

Emily jumped.

Hotch's stomach turned with an eerie premonition. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the I.D. It was Rossi.

Emily watched him wide eyed and was appeased when she felt the air leave Hotch's chest under her trembling palm, as he answered the phone. She laid her head back down, listening to his heartbeat while simultaneously trying to decipher the converstaion that was to unfold.

Hotch answered, "Yeah Rossi." There was a pause on Rossi's end and Hotch could only guess, "What happened?" Hotch asked with a troubled tone.

Emily again raised her head from his chest, she felt the tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's Garcia." Rossi said, "He nearly killed her with a single blow to the head." He paused again, frustrated with the whole situation being out of his control and feeling helpless. Rossi despised delivering the solemn news. "A nurse found her lying unconcious in a pile of blood, on the bathroom floor. It looked as if he ambushed her, here at the hospital. They said she was hit with a blunt object to the side of the head. She might not make it Hotch."

Before Hotch could respond he heard a window shatter, coming from the living room, followed by a hard object thumping against the hardwood floor.

Emily jumped to her feet.

Hotch hastily followed Emily's reaction and responded to Rossi in short, "I have to call you back." Hotch zipped and buttoned his pants. He left his work shirt hanging open as he adjusted it a little better on his shoulders. Carefully he slid the phone back in his pocket, freeing his hands.

"Hotch?" Emily said his name, as if it brought some sort of comfort.

Suddenly the lights went out. Together they stared into a dark abyss, as the silence deafed the only sense that struggled to hear a sound. The phone had stopped ringing, the glass had finished scattering across the floor and the object that broke the glass had lost its momentum. All was quiet.

In the stillness their ears begged for a sound, a footstep, a breath, a creak, anything that would reassure them they could still hear and reason.

Emily reached forward for Hotch's hand. When she found his fingers they tightly intertwined with hers. Her breathing began to break the silence as she started gasping for air, not out of fear but of anger. She jerked her hand from Hotch's and pushed past him, fidgeting fiercely with the bathroom lock to run out into the open. She desperately wanted this to end, for a brief moment she felt relentless.

Hotch firmly grabbed her arms, "Stop Emily. You have to be smarter than him."

"So far that isn't working. Who did he hurt this time?" The tears started trickling down her face, "I could tell something was wrong when you were on the phone." Emily jerked her arms away from Hotch, "Tell me Hotch!" Emily demaned into the darkness.

"It was Garcia. She went to the bathroom and..."

"How did he get in there without anyone seeing him?" Emily interupted Hotch, she could only imagine what Harvey did.

Emily sounded annoyed, she was frustrated because no one stopped him. Her eyes searched for an answer from Hotch, but after a moment she began to wonder if her eyes were even still open. Everything was so black, an endless hole she was being sucked into. She was vulnerable again, "Hotch?" Her voice begged to hear him.

"I'm still here." In the dark he reached out to touch her again, pulling her into his embrace.

The lights switched back on and immediately the phone began to ring.

Emily pulled away from Hotch once again and bolted out of the bathroom.

"Emily." Hotch called after her. His voice demanding her to stop.

Emily was quick and made it to the living room before Hotch could stop her. She picked up the reciever and yelled, "Why Harvey!"

Hotch came to a sudden stop next to Emily and hit the speaker button.

Emily layed down the reciever and Harvey began to speak, "Well Agent Hotchner, are you underminding Emily's ability to speak to me alone, is that why you put me on speaker?"

Emily defended Hotch before he could respond, "Unlike you Harvey, he cares about me! Why you are hurting my friends! It's me you want, not them!"

All the while Hotch was wondering how Harvey knew he put him on speaker, he had to be close.

Harvey avoided what Emily was saying and instead lowered his voice to say, "I always loved you in red..." He breathed heavily as if just talking about her was arousing him. "It was so..." His voice became almost a whisper. "Sexy."

Emily crossed her arms in front of her body. The words and his voice made her feel violated, knowing he saw her so tiltillating was sickening.

It was what he said next that made her skin crawl.

Harvey's breathing was still heavy at a steady rhythm and it soon started to pace more quickly, his excitement was growing and finally he said, "I love how you used to pleasure me the way you just pleasured Agent Hotchner. I'm jealous." The phone clicked, leaving but a dialtone.

Emily gasped and started backing away. Her legs felt weak, she couldn't catch her breath. Her knees dropped to the floor as she fought for air.

Hotch ran to the bathroom and scanned the ceiling, walls, and floors for a camera. Just down the hall he heard Emily crying profusely, gasping for air and gagging. After about ten seconds he gave up the search and went back to the living room. They were going to get out of there and now. Determined, he was going to keep her safe, right now her well being was most important over finding Harvey. When he reached the living room he stopped short when he saw her. Emily was kneeling on the floor, bent over, sobbing, breathing sporadically and if she had, had the strength she would have vomitted but instead she was just dry heaving.

Hotch ran over to her, "Were getting out of here, now."

Emily looked up at him, her eyes blood shot and swollen, she shook her head, "No. He...will...find us."

Hotch wrapped his arms around her and nearly lifted her to her feet, "We need to leave."

"So your plan is to run away!" Her words were barely comprehendable.

Hotch swept her hair back, away from her tear matted cheeks. "My plan is to keep you safe."

"You can't!" Emily yelled backing away from Hotch.

"I will. I know I let you down before but..." Hotch paused.

"He could be waiting for us outside. I don't feel safe even walking on the porch!"

"Then let's do a perimeter check." Hotch insisted.

"What happens if we catch him then? He goes to jail and gets back out? I can't live with that, I want him dead!" Emily yelled through the tears and then gagged after she finished the phrase.

"I want him dead too, but we have to do this the legal way. His sentence will be extended, for the escape and assulting two federal agents."

"That's not good enough!" Emily turned her back to Hotch out of frustration.

"It has to be, for now. I'm not going to let you go vigilante. If you do you'll be the one that ends up in jail or worse." Hotch tried to reason with her but it wasn't working. His tone was becoming more boss than boyfriend. "Grab your gun, were going to check the perimeter and then were leaving."

Emily turned back around to face him, "Says who?"

"Your not going to let this guy beat you." Hotch said firmly, "I won't let him. You're stronger than he is." Hotch could feel himself becoming emotional and he struggled to hold it back. One woman had never made him feel so passionate.

Emily could see Hotch was battling to keep his composure, trying to hide how he really felt behind his stoic demeanor. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, "Fine, lets just get this overwith." She couldn't bare to see Hotch lose it too. At least one of them had to be level headed.

Hotch silently sighed with relief, he kept her from losing it and giving up. He just wasn't sure how many more times he could pull her back. He looked at the floor and then out of the broken window into the darkness. A night breeze swept past him and he followed it behind him where he saw a huge rock lying on the floor.

"Hotch?" Her voice was still slightly shaky.

Hotch's eyes pulled away from the floor at the alarm in Emily's voice. "What is it?"

"Where did we put our guns when they came to get Tiger?"

"On the counter."

Emily turned around and stepped out of the way, exposing an empty counter, "There gone."

Hotch was silent.

"He must have come in when he turned the lights out." The phone rang again and Emily jumped. "I thought he might give up on that a while."

Hotch could see Emily starting to get mad again and when she was mad she was determined.

"I want to answer it Hotch." Emily told him, still recovering from her previous outburst.

"That's what he wants you to do." Hotch reminded her.

"I know, but let me do this one more time. I might can say something that will help us get ahead of him."

Hotch nodded.

Emily hit the speaker, "What is it going to take to finish this?" she asked wiping her cheeks again.

Harvey laughed, "When I finally kill you, that's when it will be finished."

The silence hung dense in the living room, Emily and Hotch glanced at one another as they heard an airplane coming through the recieving end of Harvey's phone. Emily quickly disconnected the call and the room was quiet as they waited to here if a plane was flying over the house and after a quick second they heard the plane roar above their heads.

"He's outside." Hotch said, ready to jump into action, but then he paused. They had to play this smart or Harvey would be sure to win another round.

* * *

_I'd love to know what you tho_ught! Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

_Yay another update! I hope everyone is enjoying the sto_ry!

_Warning adult material in this chapter pertaining to self harm. I wanted to include this not because I think Emily is weak but to show that people can suffer so many ways and in their suffering sometimes only certain things can allow for such an escape. For me Emily is still a strong person especially going through the turmoil she has._

_I hope everyone is still enjoying it and it's still believeable. Again I'm taking bits and pieces from actual cases and things that have happened to people and incorporating it into the story._

_I also want to apologize for my grammatical errors, I haven't been able to use my Microsoft Word and I can't find spell check in word pad._

_Thanks so much again!_

* * *

Hotch and Emily pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. "It was my fault." Emily said, "I hung up on him. He was probably watching us and knew that we were on to him when we were listening to the plane." She paused to remember. "It was too late after that."

"We had no way of knowing if he was gone, without actually looking." Hotch told her trying to look at the situation optimistically, hoping she would quit blaming herself. They had missed him and all that was left to do was accept that.

Emily gave Hotch a friendly slug on the arm, "Ah come on Hotch, were profilers. We knew he was gone the minute I disconnected the call. Let's not kid ourselves, checking around the house was a waist of time." She opened the door and got out of the vehicle.

Hotch watched her swiftly walk towards the hospital entrance, alone. Quickly he proceeded to follow her, knowing she wasn't waiting on him. It was as if she wanted to be out in the open for Harvey to grab and Hotch wasn't going to let that happen, if he could help it. With one gun on his ankle and two as spares he retrieved from a safe in his home, he was once again armed. Both of their glocks were gone but that was only a minor setback.

Emily walked through the parking lot many steps ahead of Hotch, hoping that Harvey would snatch her. She wanted to be abducted, dead even if it meant this would all be over.

A sudden urge to relieve her emotional pain came washing over her. Emily stuck her hand in her pocket and felt the thin metal of a blade. The previous morning, after Harvey broke in, she had grabbed the blade from her nightstand and flirted with the idea of using it all day. It was an old habit that came creeping back, Emily had all she could take. _You need to do this, _she told herself. Emily looked over her shoulder, Hotch had almost caught up with her. She turned around to face him, "I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"I'll wait on you." Hotch insisted, already sensing something was wrong. Her demeanor had changed. He wasn't aware of her old habit, but he was aware of her behavior and something was strange and elusive about the way she was acting.

Both of them continued into the foyer of the hospital.

"No need to. I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be fine." Emily assured him.

"Did you forget about Penelope?" Hotch asked.

"How could I?" Emily's voice cracked, she looked down at the splotched tile of the hospital floor, to hide her tears just before turning and disappearing into the bathroom.

Hotch walked up to the bathroom door and awkwardly placed his ear against the pale stained wood, to listen for any commotion that might come from the bathroom. He was afraid what happened to Garcia would happen to Emily. After a moment, he became distracted by a familiar voice.

"Is this some new tactic I haven't heard about?" Rossi asked after stepping off the elevator.

Hotch leaned away from the bathroom door, "It's Emily I was just making sure that..."

Rossi finished his statement bluntly, "...she doesn't get attacked by a crazy stalker that's on the loose?"

"Right." Hotch finished, leaning his back against the wall next to the bathroom.

"What happened tonight? Rossi asked.

"We got to my house, Tiger was there. Harvey did something to him and I had to call the animal shelter to come pick him up. The scene was pretty bad, Emily ran off to the bedroom completely unraveled, then we found out about Penelope and Emily got sick. We locked ourselves in the bathroom, fell asleep, woke up and later the phone began to ring, he broke my window, stole our glocks and the last time Emily answered the phone we found out he was right outside, but he knew we knew and he left." Hotch sighed.

"So tell me about Emily. How is she coping?" Rossi asked.

"Different than during the abuse. She isn't trying to hide her feelings but her emotions are all over the place. One minute she's determined, the next she's given up and tonight, there was a point when she was just broken. Now I don't know...something's different."

"What do you mean?" Rossi asked, standing up a little straighter.

"I'm not sure I can explain it, but on the ride here her behavior changed. It was like none of this bothered her anymore almost like she had given up, but it was different than earlier. Her face had no expression. She was closed off."

"And how are you?"

Hotch looked towards the closed bathroom door. "Minute by minute. I love her Dave." There was a slight pause in conversation before Hotch asked, "How is JJ and Penelope?"

"JJ is okay, she has kept her spirits up. Penelope is still in surgery, her brain began to swell and they had to relieve the pressure, it doesn't look good. Reid isn't sure how to compartmentalize everything and Morgan has destroyed a few pieces of sheet rock with his fist." When Rossi was done speaking he started to go into the women's bathroom.

Hotch was a little surprised, "Dave, what are you doing?"

" I have a sneaky suspiscion that Emily is up to something, I'm just going to go check it out."

"She won't be happy." Hotch tried to warn him.

"Why don't you go upstairs and check on the rest of the team. We will be up in a minute."

Hotch nodded and left.

* * *

Emily entered the bathroom with trembling fingertips. Like an addict, she felt withdrawn. Her body craved to feel the sharp blade pierce her ivory flesh. She yearned to feel the sting of pain and the constant throb as the blood would stream from her body. There was no conscious telling her it was wrong or to stop, in her mind she needed this.

Emily went to the last stall, in the farthest corner of the bathroom. As she entered through the navy blue door she noticed how dim the light was emmitting from the ceiling. She closed the stall door behind her and secured the lock.

With her hand still in her pocket she firmly grabbed the small blade with her thumb and pointer finger. Slowly she pulled it out and for a moment just stared at it. The last time she satisfied her addiction was when she was working for Interpol. None of the members on her team knew about that and that's how its going to stay for now.

Emily closed her eyes and remembered the satisfying feeling. Cutting always relieved the emotional pain, even if it was only temporary. Opening her eyes she looked down and rolled up the long red sleeves on her arms, exposing her fair skin. The old scars could barely be seen, in-fact they were only noticible if you looked meticulously and in the right place.

Emily took a deep breath and brought the blade only millimeters away from her skin. With a second deep breath she pressed the blade slowly into her forearm forming a small dip and finally the blade broke through. Slowly she began to slide it across the width of her arm when she was startled by an unexpected presence.

Rossi walked quietly into the women's bathroom. He bent down and noticed only one set of feet in the very last stall, "Emily?"

Emily jumped and jagedly cut through her flesh, causing the blood to pour from her arm, "Damn it!" _What the hell is Rossi doing in here? _She thought to herself.

"Emily?" Rossi called her name again, concerned from the expression he heard fly out of her mouth.

"What do you want?" Emily huffed, pressing her hand on the gash to keep it from gushing blood.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, now standing outside the last stall.

"Yeah, fine." She told him, trying not to sound hateful or annoyed. In reality she wasn't fine. She was nearly in blood up to her elbows and it was dripping on the floor.

"It doesn't sound fine. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Emily sighed, "You can't tell Hotch." She had to tell Rossi what she did or she would never get out of the bathroom conspicuously, without everyone knowing her secret. He was her only way out.

"I can't make that a promise, especially without knowing what's wrong." Rossi said.

"I need some gauze and medical tape or an extremely large band-aid. I prefer the band-aid if possible."

"I'll see what I can do." Rossi told her without any further questions.

This time Emily was listening intently for the bathroom door to open and close. She was too focused on cutting before to realize that someone had even entered the bathroom. When she faintly heard the door close she cautiously stepped out of the stall and over to the sink. The constant flow of water kept the blood away and then she relaized just how deep the cut was. In reality she needed stitches but in her mind that was not about to happen.

After a couple of minutes Rossi re-entered the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He walked up to the sink and layed down a big band-aid with a little packet of Neosporin while taking a glimpse at the wound. He then looked behind him into the open stall and saw the blood on the floor. He grabbed a paper towel by the dispenser next to Emily and kneeled down to clean up the bloody mess from the tile.

Emily looked at Rossi, behind her in the bathroom mirror, while keeping her arm under the water, "So are you going to pretend like nothing happened or are you waiting for me to tell you what I did?"

"Neither." Rossi said picking the blade up off the floor. "The blade I just found tells me you were cutting and by the looks of your cut, I surprised you. You jumped and cut a little more than you intended."

Emily was quiet as she let the water continue to soothe her cut.

Rossi walked back over to Emily. "How long have you been doing this?"

"It's been a long time...since the last time. If your looking for an explanation I don't have one. It just feels good and that's all I know to say." Immediately after Emily said that statement aloud she realized just how ridiculous it sounded.

Rossi grabbed another paper towel, "Here let me dry it."

Emily turned off the water and let Rossi take her arm. Gently he applied pressure for a few minutes to slow the bleeding.

"I won't have to tell Hotch, he will find out." Rossi told her.

Emily hung her head as the tears stung her eyes.

Rossi removed the paper towel proceeding to reach for the Neosporin, "That's pretty deep, does it hurt?"

Emily sniffled, "Not really."

Rossi applied the bandage.

Emily pulled her sleeves back down and leaned against the bathroom counter, just barely sitting on it.

Rossi threw away the wrappers and paper towels then stood in the silence with her.

"I just want to die Rossi." Emily said in the stillness, staring at the floor. The emotions started to become overwhelming and she could no longer hold in the salty tears as they poured from her ducts, matting to her cheeks. "I just feel sick, my chest hurts and my heart hurts so bad. My jaw even hurts from unconciously clinching my teeth. I want to give up, I'm so tired of all this."

"There is nothing I can say that would remotely offer you any comfort." Rossi was feeling helpless. His blood boiled from the frustration and anger he bottled inside and every ounce of being in his body wanted to catch this guy but they were at a loss, "There is one thing I can do though."

"What's that?" Emily asked.

Rossi took a few steps forward and they embraced. Tightly they clung to one another. Emily cried and unbeknowst to Emily Rossi had shed a few tears of his own. That moment they had found comfort in a helpless situation, but still they yearned for resolution and the unknown was almost unbearable.

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_There you have it and I'd love to know what you thought! Thanks for reading!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Yay another chapter! This one came sort of quick to me today! A shorter chapter, but I hope everyone enjoys! Thanks for the reviews and reading!_

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Emily led the way out of the bathroom back into the hospital foyer, Rossi was right behind her. She was feeling a little better about the whole situation and thought, _that cut will definitely do for awhile. That's going to be a hard one to explain when Hotch finds out. _Emily's head was going over multiple scenarios and conversations she might have when telling Hotch what she did or when he does find out on his own. She worried if he would be mad or take her out of the field because of it. _Would he still love me or send me to a therapist and be done with me forever?_

Emily was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice the blaring headlights, shining through the front glass doors of the hospital.

Rossi heard the rev of an engine and looked straight into the blinding lights, there was a loud horn as the glass doors shattered.

Emily looked up from the floor and realized she was dead and center as the vehicle came barreling into the hospital. All she could do was gasp and cringe waiting for impact when immediately she felt two hands push her out of range of the on-coming collision. After tumbling to the floor flat on her face, she swiftly got to her knees and looked behind her as the car kicked in reverse. Emily struggled for a liscense plate or anything identifieable but the lights were just too bright. All she knew was that it was a car and more than likely Harvey was the one behind the wheel. The car backed away and drove out of sight.

Emily watched as a flourescent light fell from the ceiling, stopping abruptly before it hit the floor, remaining suspended by electrical wires that cracked and popped. Sparks flew in every direction while the dust hung thick in the air, from the crumbling of sheetrock.

_Who pushed me? _"Oh God. No!" She screamed. There was Rossi lying lifeless on the floor. Emily stumbled over to him, his face was bloody and mangled, he didn't look as if he was breathing and his leg looked disfigured, "Somebody help! Please!" She laid Rossi's head in her lap, tears streamed onto his face mixing with the blood, "No, Rossi. Don't leave me! Please somebody help!" Emily laid a hand aside of his cheek, she wanted to continue to look at him, hoping his eyes would open but her own eyes blurred with tears. She wrapped her arms around him and cried, "Don't leave me Rossi! Please, I'm so sorry! Come back!" Emily felt alone, "Not Rossi! Please God no! Just bring him back!"

Emily looked up searching for someone, but she could barely see, again she screamed for help, "Someone please! Help him please!" Soon she was pushed out of the way by hospital staff. Alone she watched as they hastily attended to him, after a few moments she could see the winding cords of a defribrillator being brought out. Emily turned to her left and started to dry heave forcing the bile out of her stomach. _It's my fault, it's all my fault_.

"Emily?" A concerned and caring voice called to her, saying her name as a question, wanting to know what happened.

It was a familiar voice and a gentle touch to her back. "He's dead Hotch." Emily barely got out.

Hotch stood up and looked at the chaos.

Morgan came running up next to him, with Reid close by. "What the hell happened?"

From the floor Emily could hear Morgan's question and responded, "I didn't...I didn't see it. Rossi...he pushed me...it was a car...he was ran over."

Hotch knelt back down to Emily and folded his arms around her sobbing frame.

"Was it Harvey?" Reid asked.

"Who else could it be?" Emily said raising her head from Hotch's chest, "I'm going to kill him."

Hotch looked towards Rossi, they were lifting him onto a table, he wasn't dead they had revived him. "He's okay Emily. He's okay, look their wheeling him off."

"Yeah for now, he may die in surgery just like Garcia."

Morgan knelt down at Emily, "Penelope is going to be okay. They just told us only minutes ago."

Hotch's cell began to ring. He looked to Reid, "Reid go sit with JJ and don't leave her room. Morgan go sit with Garcia. I don't want any of you left alone. I will stay with Emily." Hotch's phone ringing reminded him of the imminent danger they all were in and he wanted everyone covered.

"What about Rossi?" Reid asked.

"He'll be okay until he comes out of surgery and then we will deal with it then." Hotch told them before Reid and Morgan disappeared into the stairwell.

Emily was oblivious to the orders Hotch had just given, all she could hear was that phone. Without warning Emily hastily pulled Hotch's phone out of his pocket along wtih his keys. She stumbled to her feet.

Hotch was caught off guard and reached for Emily as she pulled away but she was too quick. He stood to his feet with Emily just out of arm's reach, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to end this."

Hotch took a step forward and Emily took a step back.

"Please Emily, don't."

"I can't take this anymore Hotch." Emily said through gritted teeth and tears streamed down her face. This time Emily could see Hotch's eyes begin to glisten and his cheeks turn red. He was breaking her heart, she turned to run away.

Hotch ran after Emily, "No Emily, wait!" unfortunately Hotch slipped on the broken glass, he just barely caught himself sticking shards of glass in his fingertips.

Emily never looked back, she just kept running straight to the vehicle her and Hotch arrived in.

After catching himself, Hotch stumbled outside and when his feet hit the pavement he took off. All his life he had never run so fast, "Emily!" she didn't stop. "Emily!" He called again, she never looked over her shoulder, "Emily!" He called one last time as he saw her getting into the vehicle. "No!" Adrenaline raced through his veins, his muscles worked even faster as he heard the sound of the engine roar, "No, Emily!" He ran in front of the vehicle barely trapsing his hand across the hood as she turned out of his reach.

That was it she was gone.

Hotch was left standing in the parking lot, vulnerable to any harm that may come to him but he didn't care. The only woman he ever loved just spun out of sight. Menacing images raced through his mind, the next time he could see her might be in a ditch on the side of the road. He rubbed his hand over his head as a stray tear rolled down his cheek. Hotch was at a loss, "Damn it Emily!" He swiveled his head in all directions, looking for Harvey or any sign of Emily returning but there was no such luck, she was gone.

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_I'd love to know what you all thought! Thanks for reading! You all are awesome!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Another chapter! Happy Reading! Thanks again for the reviews!_

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Emily answered Hotch's phone as she pulled out of the parking lot, "Hello?" She didn't want to sound to presumtious, just in case it wasn't Harvey that was calling.

"Emily." The sinister voice came through the phone.

Emily cringed as chills ran up her spine, regardless she went straight to the point "Let's end this. Where can I meet you?"

Harvey laughed, "You're making this too easy."

"I just want this to stop." Emily felt too exahusted to beg, plead or even talk, it took every ounce of effort she had just to attempt a conversation. "Please Harvey." She felt her body wearing down and giving up.

"Okay, fine. Tell me where your at and I will give you directions to an isolated location..." Harvey paused for heavy breathing as his excitement builded, "...where no one will be able to hear you scream."

"What makes you think that I won't kill you when I see you?" Emily hated that he underestimated her.

Harvey laughed again, mocking her. "I know you won't, from what I've seen the past day and half I've broke you down pretty good, leaving you hollow." An arrogant laugh penetrated her ear. "Oh and one last thing before I tell you where your going."

"What's that?" Emily asked breathing deeply through her nose, clinching her teeth with an already aching jaw.

"You are going to get there before I do."

"Your giving me the advantage?" Emily questioned a little surprised, _what plan does Harvey have stuffed up his sleeve?_

"I think when I arrive you'll see I have the advantage." Harvey was already putting together his sinister plan, one even Emily couldn't predict.

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Emily disconnected the call with Harvey as she pulled onto a long dirt road. Towering hardwoods branched over the pothole path, creating an arch that finally opened up when she reached a two story cabin.

The cabin stood solitary in a desolate hole, deep in the woods. Shingles had been ripped off by passing winds, the stairs onto the porch were warped and the flooring of the porch was dilapidated. The front door creaked on its hinges, opening and closing into a pit of darkness. An oil lamp flickered through an upstairs window tainted with cobwebs. The house screamed run away and never come back.

Emily looked to the sky, through the front windshield, above the cabin, dawn was begining to break as she came to a complete stop. Solemnly she turned the vehicle off, geared it into park and rested her head on the steering wheel. She fought off sleep for a moment and then forced herself outside into the open air.

Hotch's cell began to ding, making Emily aware the battery was almost dead. The phone was now useless. She threw it from her trembling hand, into the driver's seat before slamming the door closed.

As she walked to the front steps of the porch, she slipped her hands in her pant's pockets and shivered in the early morning chill. _I have to make a plan. _Just as she placed her first foot on the steps she paused, _this could be a trap for all I know, obviously it's a trap but he could have something rigged. _Emily backed off the step and decided to look around the house before entering while contemplating not entering at all.

Alone, lonely wandering around the edge of the house, Emily became overwhelmed. _How did it get to this? First JJ, then Garcia and Rossi. It all got out of hand. _Her breathing quickened and she leaned her back against the side of the house, looking up to a purple sunrise. "Why!" She yelled up towards the sky, sliding down to a damp seat on the mossy ground.

Emily felt the moisture soak through the bottom of her jeans, she pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed heavily before resting her head, against the splintering wood, on the outside of the house and sobbing uncontrolably. A point came where her body could no longer hold her weight and she let herself slowly fall to the ground, laying on her side, where she was overwhelmed with the need to sleep. Conciousness faded away as the first gleam of sunlight warmed her tear stained cheek.

Birds began their morning song and dew could be heard dripping onto the crispy leaves below. Squirrels began scampering for forage to winter in the ground, while chimpmunks chattered about defending their territory.

Emily lay still on the ground, breathing peacefully and soundly for the first time, in a long time. The woods blanketed her, keeping her safe as if it knew the turmoil she had suffered. The leaves of the oaks, walnuts, hickories and maples spread out, allowing all the sunlight that would pass to give it's warmth to Emily. The dew dried as the hours ticked by and when the leaves had all they could stand they curled up in an fall breeze, as it came sweeping into the late afternoon. The clouds covered the sun and the day became dreary. An intense dread started to nest in the shawdows, lingering like a bad omen.

Emily jumped awake. Her heart raced as she tried to catch her breath. An evil feeling began to suffocate her. The woods abandoned a peaceful protection. The birds had gave up, the squirrels scurried away to their homes and the chimpmunks deserted the fight for food. Emily stood to her feet as the evil loomed around her. She turned circles looking and waiting for something to attack.

Tires in the distance, could be heard approaching.

Emily abruptly knelt down slendering herself against the house, watching and waiting for his arrival. Sleep had stolen what advantage she had and now she was left defenseless. She took deep breaths to calm herself as she worked up a plan.

The car could be seen arriving on the horizon at least a hundred yards in the distance.

Emily breathed deeper and worked her way behind a bush, concealing her location. Placing her hand in the twisted, prickly branches she pushed them outward making a space to see where the car would come to a stop. The anticipation was almost unbearable. Part of her wanted to flee into the woods, but that still wouldn't resolve the issue because Harvey would still be out there. The only good thing about fleeing was she could run back to Hotch and see him once again, if she didn't make it out alive.

The car honked as it came to a stop.

Emily struggled to see through the car's windshield and for a moment she thought she saw two people. Her hand forced itself further sideways to make a bigger hole in the bush, there was two people. _What the..._Emily literally felt her heart stop and her stomach dropped..._no. _She pulled her hand out of the bush and stood to her feet in plain sight. The point of hiding would no longer be useful, the tables had turned.

Harvey stepped out of the car with a gun in his hand, "Is that all you could come up with after all this time, hiding behind a bush?"

Emily had no idea what time it was or how long she was out, _how long had it been?_

Harvey's eyes were beaming at Emily only Emily's eyes were not on him they were on Hotch.

Hotch had independently got out of the car and was standing next to the passenger door as Harvey walked around, jamming a gun in his back. Hotch was significantly taller than Harvey and Harvey had to stand on his toes, to look over Hotch's shoulder as he spoke to Emily, "Who has the advantage now?"

Emily walked towards them, eyes now sighted in on Harvey, "This was just supposed to be between me and you. Let him go!"

"Not a chance my dear Emily, he is my leverage."

"That's not fair." Emily said, realizing how nieve that statement sounded, but she couldn't take it back.

"Life's not fair." Harvey retorted.

Hotch made a small grunt, as if clearing his throat to gain Emily's attention so she could read him.

Emily caught Hotch's glance.

Hotch had a remorseful but confident look on his face, as if no matter what happened everything would be okay while also apologizing.

An unspoken comfort was found in his eyes. Emily could never understand how Hotch could bring her so much peace with just one simple look. He made her feel that they would perservere. More confident than before Emily tried to barter with Harvey, "You can do whatever you want to with me, if you'll please just let him go."

"Emily, no..." Hotch started to walk towards her, trying to stop her from making a trade as if Harvey might actually accept the offer. He couldn't bare to see Emily trade her life for his, besides the endless agony of knowing she would be dead, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Emily would have no such luck with a selfless trade. Harvey swiftly stepped in front of Hotch to keep him from approaching Emily. He now shoved the gun in Hotch's chest, yet he didn't look upset he seemed to be exhilarated by this display of affection between the two agents, "I just love this!" he said excitedly.

"What, torturing people?" Emily blurted Harvey, holding herself back from attacking him.

"No...you and him, its so sweet. You would both give your life for the other and that's why this is the perfect scenario. I can make both of you suffer by torturing the other. That's what made it so easy for me to get Agent Hotchner to come here. I told him I'd spare your life if he would give me his."

Hotch took what he thought was an opportune moment to gain the upper hand and went for Harvey's gun, while his eyes were on Emily. With one quick motion he brought up his hand, to grab Harvey's wrist, while stepping to the side of the gun, out of it's aim.

Harvey sensed Hotch moving for his gun, quickly he retracted his hand from Hotch's chest and stepped behind Emily, hitting her in the ribs with the butt of the gun, to render her momentarily defenseless before jamming the barrel into her temple, "Nice try, but no cigar. Try it again and your going to wish you hadn't" Harvey told Hotch.

Emily's focus was on the weapon aimed directly Hotch's chest, distracting her from the un-anticipated attempt at a take down. Caught off guard she didn't react quick enough to aid Hotch, in gaining control of the situation. Suddenly she doubled over in pain, from the force of the blunt object connecting with her ribs. The air escaped her lungs, she couldn't breath from the throbbing surge in her side and before recovering, Harvey pulled on the roots of her ebony hair. Emily moaned as she was forced backwards, heightening the pain in her side as he forced her to straighten her stance, just before the barrel of his gun was shoved into her temple immediately causing a blinding headache.

Harvey put his lips in the crevis of her neck and kissed her. Emily tried to jerk away and he pulled harder on the strands of her hair, clinched in his fist.

"If you touch her..." Hotch started to threaten.

Harvey smiled slyly, he moved the gun down Emily's side, tracing the outline of her curves, before reaching around and rubbing the gun between her legs, "You mean like this, Agent Hotchner?"

"It's okay Hotch." Emily said, trying to breath through the pain.

Hotch couldn't stand by and just watch this. Emily was suffering, struggling, grunting with every breath and visibly cringing and trying to back away from the touch of Harvey's gun between her legs. She was now standing on her toes, but it was to no avail only making Harvey rub her more vigorously. There was no warning as Hotch bolted towards him to fight Harvey off of her. Harvey pushed Emily to the ground and pummeled himself towards Hotch, slamming the gun across the front of Hotch's head, knocking him out cold.

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_Things are getting ready to take a turn for the worse. I'd love to know what you thought, good or bad!_


	8. Chapter 8

_A shorter chapter, but it is kind of the turning point in the story. I wanted the profile I wanted a shift and I wanted to bring you back to the Criminal Mind. I hope you all enjoy! _

_This chapter is for Emily too, helping her overcome!_

_Again I apologize for any grammatical errors. I try to re-read these as best as I can but sometimes I just miss them._

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Emily laid staring at the rose colored ceiling, focusing on the splintered wood. The pieces hung like a spears, waiting to drop and pierce through her ivory flesh. _What caused that? _She wondered. Focusing more closely she could see bent nails woven deep into the wood, barely shining in the flicker of the oil lamps. It was as if someone had put a nail in the wrong place, tried to rip it out and in doing so shredded the wood creating jagged splinters.

There soon came a slow steady thump, similar to that of a hammer pecking a nail into a board.

Emily was lying on a squeaky bed, sinking into the musty flowered mattress, feeling the rusty springs pressing against her back. She instinctively pulled against the binds, tied tightly around her ankles and wrists that were pulling her legs apart and her hands taut above her head, _why didn't I just fight him? _Emily sighed and looked to her right, following the floorboards all the way to the opposite wall. There was Hotch, _that's why I didn't fight, to save him. To save Aaron, I don't want to lose him, but how are we going to get out of this now? _Emily felt her eyes sting with salty tears, it burned, she closed them and the tears streamed down her face.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Emily opened her eyes and looked back towards Hotch. He was slumped, legs dragging the floor up to his knees. All that was holding his weight was his wrists that were pad locked to the wall, wrapped in thick, heavy chains. Next to his drooped head, Harvey was beating the end of a standard police flashlight, attempting to wake an unconcious Hotch.

Thump, thump..."Agent Hotchner, wake up." Harvey's words were drawn out and sounded annoyed.

"Leave him alone." Emily said through gritted teeth.

"Not a chance doll." Harvey smiled.

Hotch may have been unconscious but when he heard Harvey call Emily doll, he was very much awake and a fire burned in him. With his head drooped looking at the floor he said, "Don't call her doll." Slowly he raised his head to stare in the face of the man, that he vowed to make pay for what he did to Emily.

Emily watched as the two men stared at eachother, it was a battle of wills and briefly Emily saw Hotch winning as Harvey looked to be genuinely intimidated. She could tell Harvey was thinking of something to say when suddenly he made a swift move to the kitchen and came back into the room with a pitcher of water and a washcloth. "What the hell?" Emily whispered audibly to herself.

Hotch waited silently as Harvey disappeared then reappeared. When he saw him standing with a pitcher of water and washcloth, he knew what inevitable event was to occur and he only hoped Harvey tortured him instead of Emily.

Emily wondered why Harvey just stood there, the posture and expression looked as if he was playing host, getting ready to serve tea or in this case a pitcher of water. The silence was almost deafening as he contemplated what to do next.

Emily's eyes shifted to Hotch who had his stern, supervisory special agent look, that was boring a hole straight through Harvey. Then suddenly like a wild animal, Harvey attacked. He bolted towards Hotch, pushing his head back against the wall. Hotch struggled turning his head side to side as Harvey covered his face with a washcloth. Hotch's neck popped, cracked, grinded and felt close to breaking against the pressure, forcing his head backward. Instictively Hotch tried to bring his legs up to fight off Harvey, but soon realized they were tied, having limited movement.

"Open wide!" Harvey yelled.

"Leave him alone!" Emily screamed, jerking on her binds, rocking the metal headboard against the wall.

Hotch struggled for air through the fibers of the scratchy cloth when only seconds later the air was replaced with a torrent of water. Slowly he was suffocating, quickly it soaked through the cloth and poured down his nose and into his mouth. He needed to cough and fought desperately in the struggle. His stomach couldn't force the water back out with his head turned up, even though it ached too, gargling and gagging all the way down.

"Leave him alone! If you want to hurt someone, hurt me!" Emily begged, "No!"

Hotch could feel himself fading and then as quick as it began it stopped. Harvey removed the cloth and Hotch was left gasping for air as the water dripped from his dark hair and down his face. He looked to the floor, coughing up water, slowly trying recover.

Emily cried and said, "Hotch?"

Hotch caught his breath and looked up, "I'm...okay." He said between gasps.

His eyes were re-assuring but Emily knew that this couldn't last forever. How long would Harvey make them suffer?

"I will call her whatever I want to." Harvey tried to say with authority, but it almost came out as if he was faking it, he was no match for Hotch when it came to sounding believeable.

Emily could tell Harvey was making everything up as he went along. Something about him was immature. She hadn't saw this until now. In the past, when he was abusing her it made him more of a man in his mind, but here in between making a decision on a what to do next, Emily spotted a weakness.

"You don't own her." Hotch told him.

Emily's eyes became wide looking at Hotch, as a warning not to say anything else. She didn't want him to suffer.

"Right now I do." Harvey taunted, throwing down the washcloth and empty pitcher. He grabbed a knife laying on a coffee table then walked over to the bed, towards Emily.

"Don't you touch her!" Hotch demanded.

Harvey jumped on the bed and straddled Emily, raising the knife above his head.

Emily fought for something to say and finally, "What happened to you?" The statement owned the room, demanding an answer. Emily had control. Instantly she could see Harvey's expression change. She had found a piece of herself, instincitively built a profile and soon began toying with his behavior.

"What do you mean?" Harvey asked.

Hotch watched curiously. He could tell Emily saw how to play him and gain the upper hand.

"You were a strong FBI agent, authoritative and working on a promotion. You were friendly, caring and...and...you acted like you genuinely cared about me. Why have you done what you did? Why did you hurt me?"

Harvey lowered the knife and held it loosely in his hand, as if searching for an answer, "I...I..."

"Didn't you like me?" Emily asked, genuinely sounding hurt.

Harvey's eyes glanced sporadically as he thought hard about the past events. He paused, took a deep breath and raised his hand again as if ready to drive the knife through Emily's chest, "I did like you!"

Hotch could see what Emily's was doing and played along, "You don't want to hurt her Harvey. I was wrong, this whole time, she liked you." The words tasted like vomit as they rolled off his tongue.

"No she doesn't!" Harvey screamed with spit spraying onto Emily's face. "I saw you both, laughing, being friendly and just yesterday in her apartment you were hugging."

"Like you said we were just friends." Hotch admitted to him.

"He's right." Emily said, glancing at Hotch getting a confident nod to continue before looking back towards Harvey. "You were the one I made love too. I just don't understand why you hurt me."

"That's what a head of the household does. That's how you control your women."

"A consenting and equal partnership would have been just as nice and a lot less fighting." Emily talked to him in a calm voice.

"That's what he said, that's how you get control. You have to beat them down, that's what makes you a man." He confessed to Hotch and Emily, looking to the agents as if what he was saying was true and wanting them to agree.

"I want us to be together, but it was hard when you were beating me." Emily said, her voice wavering as she thought back to those terrifying moments. _Had it all come to this, something in his past, surfacing and destroying him? What was his trigger? I have him and maybe I have finally gained the upper hand._

"It's his fault!" Harvey said jumping off the bed and onto the hardwood floor.

"Whose?" Emily asked.

"Your going to find out!" Harvey paced, breathing hard, shifting his focus away from Emily.

Emily and Hotch saw that Harvey was devolving, losing control, there was no telling what he would do next.

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_There you have it! I'd love to know what you thought! Things are far from over!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Were almost done! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I played a lot with emotions, especially the un-subs! thank you for reading and reviewing, you all are so encouraging to me and inspire me to write more! Thank you!_

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Harvey looked like any moment he could break, losing all control.

Hotch watched him pace. It looked as if was contemplating on who to get angry with, Emily or this other unknown person.

Harvey began mumbling to himself, all of which was incoherent for lack of volume.

Emily and Hotch would look to one another and then to Harvey as if trying to guess what he might do. They both hesitated to say anything, afraid of they might say would cause him to lose all hold on reality and it wasn't something they were willing to risk, at the expense of their lives.

Minutes passed and Harvey's words became more audible and understanding as his frustration continued to build. It was obvious he was arguing with himself about things he had done and things that had happened personally to him. He was externalizing his internal struggle which was helpful for the two profilers who had no choice but to listen.

Emily vaguely heard Harvey say something about his mother being dead. She couldn't quite connect his words but by the look on his face she could tell it deeply saddened him, to the point where he ended up sitting on the floor and crying. Emily's heart paced, this was loop hole, she could use this to their advantage.

Harvey was beginning to fracture piece by piece, desperately grasping to hold on to himself and remain in control.

It was time for Emily to empathize, she needed to make the most of this opportune moment. _How do I begin? Should I mention my abortion, that's sort of close to losing someone…but not really? Should I make up a story? The story would have to have the same emotional impact as losing a mother…_Emily's thoughts were unexpectedly disrupted by Hotch, with a bold and blunt statement.

"I lost my mother too." Hotch said with real sorrow, pouring from the words as he spoke.

Harvey immediately reacted by jumping to his feet and running over to Hotch, sticking the point of the knife on his chest, "I loved my mother!" Harvey yelled, almost as if he was trying to convince himself.

Hotch remained seemingly un-phased by the knife, that was now threatening his life, "Do you want to know how she died?" His words sounded angry, hurt and guilt laden.

Emily watched from across the room, as Hotch's eyes glazed over with salty emotion, bearing a tormenting anguish. The moment was real and the silence lingered with unbearable heartache. To know that someone she loved appeared to be suffering so greatly was more than she could stand and finally the tears began traipsing down her cheeks. It was then she realized how Hotch had been feeling for most of the past year and she understood what he had been going through watching her suffer. Knowing she had caused Hotch the pain she was now feeling for him burdened her, magnifying the sentiment. This had become Emily's point of realization, identifying with Hotch while he was identifying with Harvey.

Harvey's interest was piqued. Hotch was compelling, exposing true feelings about his mother's death. Harvey saw that it was real and was hanging on every word, "Tell me what happened and don't lie!" he said pushing the blade ever so slightly into Hotch's chest.

Hotch could feel the tip of the blade, beginning to pierce his skin but ignored it and began, "I was ten. My brother and I were playing with cars in front of the T.V. My mother came into the room with a plate of food for our dad. I looked at her and she was so scared, her hands were shaking. My dad grabbed the plate from her and looked at the food, he picked it up and flopped it back down, _It's undercooked,_ he told her, just before breaking the plate across the front of her face."

Emily could hear Hotch replacing his sorrow with anger, while trying to make a point, at the height of his story. She felt by the tone in his voice as if he was defending her in an obscure way, which was a very valiant move with a knife being pressed into his chest.

Hotch continued as his jaw began to clinch tighter, "She fell to the floor and blood covered her face. She screamed at me to run. I took my brother's hand and we went to our bedroom. I made him hide in the closet while I stepped back out in the hallway. I watched as my father grabbed the end table, lifted it over his head and began beating my mother with it. I can still hear her scream and see the fear on her face as her body writhed with pain, trying to crawl away." Hotch raised his voice, "I could hear her bones breaking and I did nothing!" Hotch was a losing a hold on his control and turned the conversation back to Harvey, "Is that what happened to your mother? Did your father kill her and tell her she deserved it? Is that why you beat up Emily because you think it's right? Is that what your father taught you? That's what mine taught me, but my mother taught me to love, she taught me how to be gentle and kind and that's how I lived to honor her. She was so courageous in the face of adversity; it made me want to be stronger."

Harvey interjected pressing the knife a little farther into Hotch's chest, "But you did nothing to save her!"

"Did you do anything to save yours?" Hotch asked, nearly yelling in Harvey's face.

"I couldn't, I wasn't there." Harvey explained.

"And I was a scared ten year old boy who had a little brother to protect!"

Harvey was now infuriated, feeling as if he was being played, "I see what your trying to do, your trying to convince me what my father did was wrong when actually he was right! I know how you profilers work, remember I use to be one! My mother deserved what was coming to her!"

"Is that what you think?" Hotch said loudly challenging Harvey.

Harvey leaned in to Hotch's face, only inches away and said, "That's what I know."

The scene had escalated into something that was running out of control and Emily had to regain hold of the situation. "Harvey." She said almost with a hint of sweetness and affection emanating from her voice.

Harvey turned around, knife still clinched tightly in his fist, "What!" he yelled.

Emily could breathe now that the knife was no longer resting in Hotch's chest. She smiled at him and said softly, "Mothers are pretty special aren't they?"

"What is this, a good cop bad cop routine?"

"No." Emily told him, "Mothers are special and sometimes that have trouble showing how much they love you or how much they want to protect you."

The tables have turned. Hotch may have had the identifying story relating to Harvey's mother's death, but Emily was the one who had a mother that was most like Harvey's. Emily's mother was a diplomat, there was no time for precious moments, hugs, and kisses, reading books or playing games. Her mother was a serious woman who understood how to be a diplomat but not a mother. The thoughts of her mother disheartened her some, but Emily felt that growing up in that type of environment helped her to build stronger sense of self and enhanced her abilities to compartmentalize. Cutting had always been a weakness when things became rough, but she always overcame and right now, speaking to Harvey, that's what she was doing, overcoming the situation.

"What are you saying?" Harvey asked.

Emily still remained calm and quiet, even though inside she was suppressing an intensifying anger as she recalled what her life was like, "I'm saying that my mother didn't take a second out of her day to even notice I was in the room. You know when you're a kid and you fall down the stairs, or scrape a knee mom is always there to fix it, my mother ignored it, literally. She didn't fix my boos boos or protect me. She let me fall flat on my face, all the time. Sometimes that can be good for you but sometimes it's nice to have someone help pick you up, to know someone is there standing beside you."

Harvey walked up to Emily and pointed the knife at her throat, "Then why don't I believe you? You're not crying and you're not upset."

"I deal with my emotions differently than some people." Emily looked away, ashamed that she was so unbelievable. Her feelings were true she just couldn't convey them the way she wanted to.

"How? How do you deal with your emotions differently?" Harvey asked.

"Raise the sleeve up on my left arm." Emily couldn't look at Hotch, but wondered what kind of expression he had on his face.

Harvey reached over and jerked up her sleeve, partially ripping off the bandage and reopening the cut. "You're a cutter." He stated, almost surprised. "Does it help?" he seemed to ask sincerely.

"For a little while." Emily still couldn't look at Hotch, she didn't want to see the disappointment on his face. Little did she know, if she would have looked, she would have saw Hotch was showing understanding and a desperate yearning to help her.

Hotch watched from the across the room feeling a familiar heartache and pressing guilt for not seeing the signs and being able to help her through what she was suffering.

"This looks new, did your mom cause you to do this?" Harvey wondered.

Emily could see his mood was changing; she wasn't sure what to say. She knew she needed to tell the truth but if she told Harvey it was his fault there was no telling what he might do. Tactfully she tried to answer the question in a roundabout way, "My mom used to cause me to cut."

"Who caused this one?" Harvey's voice sounded gruff.

Emily could see she was losing him, "It's hard to explain. All I know to tell you is that I was hurting on the inside and the only way to make it better was to hurt on the outside."

"Was it me?" Harvey didn't wait for a response and said, "I was causing you pain and I didn't even know." He paused, grinned and finished with, "How clever of me."

Hotch spotted a growing sinister look on Harvey's face. The situation seemed to have reach its climax just before a fatal explosion. "Think about it Harvey."

Harvey laughed and said, "I just love this, you can see I'm planning to do something before I even do it."

Hotch disregarded Harvey's last statement and began ignoring his behavior. He needed to focus on getting Emily back to looking at him. He felt the intense desire to communicate and have an understanding, just in case things took a turn for the worse.

Emily was still avoiding eye contact.

Hotch didn't care that she cut herself; she was still the same Emily to him and always would be. Who doesn't have a few skeletons in their closet and at least one point in our lives we all do something that we are ashamed of.

Hotch understood that Emily expressing her feelings and exposing one of her darkest secrets was harder for her than most. She thought of it as a sign of weakness and not a sign of strength. When in actuality it takes a strong person to admit something so personal. Hotch kept his focus on Emily and spoke to her from across the room, "I don't care that you cut Emily."

Emily couldn't keep herself from crying as she looked at the splintered ceiling.

"Emily look at me." Hotch demanded, in his Unit Chief voice.

Emily let out a deep breath and looked over to Hotch.

Hotch cracked a grin and said, "See that wasn't so bad."

Emily smiled back. No matter the situation, even in the darkest abyss Hotch always pulled her through and made her feel that it was okay for her to express her innermost troubling emotions, without ever being judged. _How does he do that? _She wondered. _He makes me feel so normal and safe with being myself and not just parts of me but all parts, even the darkest ones. _

"You lied!" Harvey yelled. "You do love her!" Harvey jumped on top of Emily straddling her torso.

Emily suddenly lost the capacity to breathe deeply, with the weight of his body pressing down on her.

Harvey ripped off the loosely hanging band aid and without hesitation began cutting her arm, starting just above the one she had previously made.

"Leave her alone!" Hotch yelled, struggling against his chains, making them rattle violently.

Emily's body tensed and she gasped when she felt the knife break through her flesh. She watched as he slowly ran the blade the width of her arm, stopped and then started again above that cut creating a third.

"Leave her alone! If you really loved her you wouldn't hurt her!"

Emily looked at Hotch and told him, "I'm okay."

Harvey looked up from his work, "You hear that Hotch, she's okay. Maybe I should make the cuts a little deeper." Harvey applied more pressure.

Emily had to bit her lip, to keep from groaning with pain.

"I'm going to kill you Harvey! I said leave her alone!" Hotch yelled.

Harvey ignored him and continued cutting.

Emily's breathing was now identifiable by short, gasping breaths. She was totally focused on the cutting; it wasn't so bad when she had control over the depth of the cut and the amount of bleeding but these cuts could leave a scar and if they did, _what would the team think?_ She looked over at Hotch and saw that he was yelling, but suddenly everything seemed to be silent. She was disconnecting from reality, once again giving in…but no, she couldn't, _come on Emily, don't give up. You are okay; it's just a few cuts. Don't let Hotch think you're suffering so much. You're not dead, at least no now anyways. _Emily started to take some slow, deep breaths feeling the blood pulse slowly out of her arms. The cuts throbbed repeatedly as if someone would apply an aching pressure then release.

"Why don't you turn around and face me you coward!" Hotch demanded of Harvey, "You think your so tuff, but you really aren't! You're scared and you know it! You have to keep us tied up to have control!" Hotch tried to divert Harvey's attention and was happy to see it worked.

Harvey looked to Hotch as he began the fourth cut, "Is that what you think, that I'm scared?"

"Until you prove otherwise, yes." Hotch growled at him.

Emily was thrilled that Hotch was getting Harvey's attention but she despised the knife resting deep into the tissue of her arm, wiggling around, exacerbating the pain, while they argued.

Hotch narrowed his eyes, challenging Harvey, "Get off of her."

Emily released an agonizing moan when Harvey nearly pressed the knife all the way through her arm, using it as a lever to jump back on to the floor.

"I'll show you I'm not a coward!" Harvey reached into his pocket pulling out a key and began fumbling with the locks on Hotch's chains.

Hotch waited impatiently, listening to each pad lock click open, one by one. Fortunately for Hotch, Harvey had waited to unlock his feet last and when the last locked clicked open Hotch sprung his leg forward, kicking Harvey in the face, knocking him flat on his back.

Briefly Emily's pain was masked by the fight that had ensued, watching as Hotch seemed to gain the upper hand, in a twisted turn of events. Hotch plummeted on Harvey swinging violently, knocking his face from side to side.

With each knuckle busting punch, Hotch could feel drops of blood splatter onto his face. His arms flung wildly in a ravenous motion, as he thought of Emily, unleashing his pent up rage for all she had endured. Harvey disappeared as images flashed before Hotch's face. Emily, his Emily, _cowered in a corner hiding, crying unstoppable tears, waking from a terrifying dream, screaming with fear, grieving from the loss of her dog, getting sick when things were so out of her control and slowly watching her spirit being sucked bit by bit from her body, leaving nothing but a hollow shell._ Then like lightening an unexpected image crossed his mind_, Emily's smile, so loving, kind, caring and her strong determined spirit lighting up the room, like a warm ray of sunlight, embracing what the day had to give. _It was so contagious because you knew in that moment, when Emily smiled all was well with the world even if it was for only a little while.

Hotch stopped abruptly nearly as quick as it had started. His animosity boiled over as he missed the smiling Emily, the Emily that was stolen from him by some woman beater that doesn't know if he loves his mom. Hotch looked down at his hands covered in blood, hovering above Harvey's mangled face. Silence lumbered in short, before Hotch began to notice Harvey's white teeth peeking out from under his lips that were growing into a smile. Hotch clinched Harvey's shirt underneath each of his hands, pulling his body slightly off the floor, bringing him closer to his face, "You stole her from me and from herself! You hurt her and terrorized her, for it all to end like this!" Hotch pulled Harvey a little closer, "I have one question left to ask you, was it worth it?"

Harvey tried to laugh sputtering blood from his mouth, "It was worth every fucking second."

With all his pinned up rage, Hotch instantly slammed him back down, plunging his head against the hardwood floor, not once but twice before letting his limp body fall from his hands. This time the stillness was wrought with an air of relief, tangled with hints of disappointment for loss of another sould.

Hotch stared at him. He had killed a man with his bare hands, _was it worth it? Did I have any other choice?_

"Aaron?" Emily said, when he didn't turn around right away.

After hearing his name, Hotch looked behind him, _it was worth it and no there was no other choice. It was our lives over his and I wasn't going to let him take Emily away from me forever. _Hotch stood to his feet quickly pacing to Emily's side, "I'm here baby. It's all over." He worked feverishly at untying her binds, beginning with her ankles.

Emily's leg muscles ached when the tension was released from them being placed in a tight position. Emily then felt Hotch's hands run smoothly up the sides of her body, outlining her curves as he worked his way to un-tying her wrists. She knew he wasn't doing it to be sensual, but lovingly, letting her know she was safe and that he was there for her.

"My arm." Emily told him, looking at the knife sticking out of her arm, just below her elbow.

Hotch fumbled feverishly with the knot on her right wrist and when her arm was free he stopped. He cupped the side of her face with one hand as his fingertips explored the softness of her hair, "You want me to pull it out?" Thinking that maybe she would want to do it herself.

"Please."

"Let me un-tie your other wrist and then I will." Carefully Hotch leaned over top of Emily, their bodies brushing against one another as he worked on the last knot.

"Hurry." Emily said, her voice, high toned and out of breath. The bed was moving slightly which was causing the knife to move immensely, creating more tissue damage in her arm. Emily could feel the rope fall off her wrist, but she let her arm lay still.

"This will only hurt just a second. I'll try to make it quick." Hotch assured her.

Emily moved her right arm that was screaming with pain at her shoulder joint, as it rotated down to grab hold of Hotch's slacks. She clinched the material in her fist and waited for him to pull out the knife.

Hotch felt his pants leg tighten and looked down. He could tell the anticipation was worse than the actual pain and quickly pulled it out without any warning.

Emily nodded her head and bit her bottom lip as she felt the blade being pulled from her arm. She finally breathed, "It's over?" Her voice wavered.

Hotch pulled his work shirt out of his pants and began unbuttoning the front.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

Hotch pulled the shirt off his arms, and began tearing a few strips of fabric. "Your arm is bleeding badly. I'm going to tie of each cut and then wrap it up." Left in his cotton white undershirt and black slacks he worked diligently to prepare and temporarily bandage Emily's arm.

Emily looked away, again feeling ashamed.

Hotch noticed, but didn't want to bring it to her attention knowing it would embarrass her more. "Grab hold of pants again, this may hurt."

Emily waited and just as Hotch pulled tightly; tying down the first cut she let out a small moan.

"I'm sorry." Hotch said gently, double knotting the strip of cloth.

"It's okay, just wasn't expecting it to be that bad is all. That hurt worse than pulling the knife out, but I can take it. You won't hear another peep out of me." Almost immediately after her remark, Emily eyes were squinted shut by bright blue and red lights, swirling through the windows of the cabin, followed by the sound of a helicopter hovering overhead.

* * *

_One chapter left! I'd love to know what you thought if you have time!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Thank you all for sticking with me on this one! I hope you have enjoyed! Sorry the last chapter is a little long, I didn't want to break it up!_

_Thank you for your support, reviews and reads! Much appreciated!_

* * *

**Two Weeks Later**

Hotch could be heard calling from the bathroom. "Emily, are you about ready to go?"

Emily was not at all excited about leaving the house. She looked down at the stitches on her arm and then came a slight response, "Yeah."

In the bathroom, Hotch barely heard her reply and what he did hear made him concerned. He quickly finished rinsing his mouth just before heading to the bedroom. Quietly he paced down the hall and slowed as he reached the bedroom door, stopping right before he entered. He saw Emily standing by the window, staring out into the street. Hotch took a few steps inside the doorway, "What's wrong?"

Emily bit her lip as the tears started to fall. She couldn't find the courage to look at Hotch but tried to speak anyways, "I…" Emily barely spoke a word when she was interrupted by Hotch's phone, ringing from his pants pocket.

Hotch pulled out the phone, he had been waiting all morning for a call from Strauss. He could tell Emily needed a moment to collect herself and answered the call, "Hotchner." Hotch was careful not to press her, but expressed his concern, letting Emily know he was there for her, when and if she needed him.

Emily wiped away the tears with her fingertips. She let out a deep breath, relieved that Strauss had called. _What's wrong with me? _She thought. Listening to the conversation behind her she heard the word, _Monday, _relay out of Hotch's mouth. _Monday is only three days away, I'm not ready. _Emily turned around, her eyes beaming at Hotch. She watched him nod and say goodbye. "We have to go back to work Monday?"

"Yes, those of us who can are expected to."

Emily took a seat on the bed, obviously frustrated. She doubted her abilities to return to work.

Hotch walked over to the bedside and took a seat next to her. He placed his hand on top of Emily's leg and said, "If there is any person on this team that is not ready to go back to work, physically or mentally, they don't have to."

"That is most of the team." Emily told him.

"Not from where I sit. JJ called me this morning begging me to come back to work."

"She did?" Emily asked surprised.

Hotch nodded, "Reid, Morgan and myself are more than able so that is most of us."

"And me, what do you think about me?"

"I think you're ready." Hotch told her confidently.

"How can you say that?" Emily stood up, "Look at me, Aaron, I'm a wreck."

Hotch smiled.

"What?" Emily asked, offended by his smile, for him not taking her seriously.

"I like it when you call me Aaron." Hotch stated plainly.

Emily released her tension and grinned back at him, "I like to see you smile."

Hotch didn't like talking about himself or the fact that he smiled more often now and diverted the conversation. "If I thought your emotional state would compromise your ability to do your job I would tell you."

"I know you would." Emily took her seat on the bed again.

"Let me take a look at your arm." Hotch reached over and tenderly placed both of his hands underneath her arm. "Does it hurt much?"

"Not really."

"It looks like its healing well."

"The scars will always be there." Emily said with disappointment.

"You could always get a new tattoo." Hotch smiled standing to his feet.

"Don't remind me." Emily grumbled also standing to her feet. I'm just glad I can't see it without actually making an effort to look at it.

"Tell me does Daffy Duck actually like margaritas?" Hotch grabbed his coat, lying on the end of the bed.

"It wasn't even my idea." Emily tried to convince him.

"So you were drunk." Hotch stated, grinning at Emily's promiscuity. He loved everything about her, even her Daffy Duck tattoo.

"It's Vegas, need I say more?"

Hotch nearly chuckled as he walked out of the room. Emily had a wild side and it intrigued him. Like a sponge he soaked up everything he could learn about her and yearned to know more. Never in his life did he care for someone as deeply as he cared for Emily.

Together they made their way down the hall and into the front room, "So are you ready to go get those stitches out and pay a visit to Dave and Garcia?

"I'm afraid they are going to be mad at me."

"Not a chance." Hotch told her.

"Are you sure?" Emily asked.

"I know so."

* * *

**Removal of Stitches and a Friendly Visit**

Hotch was waiting with Emily behind a curtain before the nurse came back to remove her stitches.

Emily was sitting on the edge of the bed, fanning herself with a stray clipboard she saw laying a chair.

Hotch didn't think the hospital was all that hot at the moment and wondered, _Is she having a hot flash? Is she too young to have hot flashes? Is she nervous about getting the stitches out? That's doubtful, she would let someone take a bullet out of her without any medication. _Hotch noticed her cheeks began to flush. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She said, ignoring the nauseating feel bubbling in her stomach.

"It does you absolutely no good to lie to me." Hotch said nonchalantly.

"Fine, I feel a little sick." Emily hated admitting what she thought was a weakness and was embarrassed. She tried to brush it off, coming up with a reason for the way she was feeling, "I hope I'm not coming down with anything, I felt like this on and off the past two days."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hotch sat up a little straighter in his chair.

"Because it wasn't that bad and would come and go."

Hotch stood up, "Maybe we should have the nurse check you out, just to be on the safe side." He raised the back of his hand to her forehead. "You don't feel feverish."

"Really I'm fine." Before Emily could attempt to persuade him anymore they were interrupted.

The nurse flung open the curtain, "Alright let's get those stitches out." She took a hold of Emily's arm, "They look to be healing nicely."

Emily thought to herself, _just get them out. I've heard enough about stitches and how well they are healing._

"You know if you use Mederma they shouldn't leave too much of a scar."

"Really?" Emily sounded excited; you could physically see her spirits being lifted from a depressive state. She looked to Hotch, who had once again took a seat in his chair and was smiling at her. _This might just turn out to be a pretty good day._

* * *

When Emily was finished they went to Garcia's room. Just outside her window they stopped and Emily leaned against the wall.

Hotch put his hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but instead of feeling sick I feel dizzy. I'm hoping it will pass."

"If you're not feeling better by the time we leave, I'm going to have a doctor check you out, no arguments." Hotch told her.

Emily stood up a little straighter and stepped out from the wall, "It's passing." She took a deep breath.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" Hotch asked.

"No, I'd like to speak to her alone and I'll be quick. The doctor said she needs to get all the rest she can."

"Okay." Hotch nodded.

Emily lightly tapped on Garcia's door and walked in. Morgan and Garcia happened to be kissing at that moment and Emily said, "I'm sorry. I'll just…" She started to walk back out the door.

Morgan stood up from the bed, "It's okay. I was just saying good morning to my Baby Girl."

Emily turned back around, "I had no idea you two were…" Emily didn't know how to finish.

"It's only been through a recent turn of events." Morgan said.

"Oh well…okay." Emily replied, happy for the couple. She felt herself starting to get a little dizzy again. She tried to keep her balance and hold it together without letting Morgan and Garcia see but it was to no avail.

Morgan came to Emily's side to steady her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, really." Emily tried to come up with some excuse, but the only thing she could think to say made her sound weak and vulnerable, but she said it anyway, "It's been a really emotional past few days and I just got my stitches taken out so it could be a combination of all that."

Morgan knew what she stated had all been true, but by the tone in her voice he could tell it really wasn't the reason why she was feeling bad. Something else was going on and Emily either didn't know what it was or she didn't want to admit it. "Here I'll help you get a seat."

"Thanks."

Morgan guided Emily over to Garcia's bed, where she took a comfortable seat on the edge of it.

Morgan gave Garcia one more kiss on the cheek, "I'll be back in when you two hens finish your clucking." He joked.

"Go on and get outta here." Emily joked back.

Garcia just smiled.

Morgan stepped out in the hall and was met by Hotch. He waited for the door to close and asked, "Hotch, is everything okay with Emily?"

"As far as I know, why?" Hotch looked curiously at him. _Had he picked up on Emily looking a little sick too? This is getting serious if Morgan notices. Emily is good at hiding things, but right now she is struggling so it must be pretty bad._

"She looks like she might be a little sick." Morgan stated.

"I thought that too." Hotch told him, agreeing.

The two men continued to carry on a casual conversation about work and their women while Emily and Garcia chatted on the other side of the door.

Emily grabbed Garcia's hands, "How do you feel?"

"I have a pounding headache, but other than that okay. The doctor said it should go away in a few days."

Emily looked at Garcia. She seemed so weak and her head still had some bruising that hadn't quite healed yet, "I'm so sorry." Emily whispered as she felt the tears well up in her eyes.

"It's not your fault." Garcia said.

"I feel like it is. I should have never gone out with him and this would have never happened." Emily told her, feeling guilty.

Garcia squeezed Emily's hands, "Don't feel guilty, if it hadn't of been for this I might have never got my chocolate drop to admit he loves me."

Emily leaned down and gave Garcia a quick hug, "I love you Garcia and your right. Aaron…I mean Hotch and I we may have never…" Emily had never spoke out loud about her and Hotch's relationship and the words were not coming easy.

"I know." Garcia said, seeing Emily was having a hard time explaining. "Everything happens for a reason."

"Yeah." Emily said with a smile, as a few glistening tears traced down her cheeks.

Garcia closed her eyes. All the excitement was becoming tiring and she could barely hold her eyes open.

Emily squeezed Garcia's hands one last time and kissed her forehead. "I'll go get Morgan."

"Thank you." Garcia whispered.

Emily stood up and walked out of the room. When she stepped into the hallway she saw Morgan and Hotch were waiting on her. "She's just about to fall asleep."

Morgan stepped passed Emily and stopped, "Thank you." He said.

"For what?" Emily asked.

"Fate." Morgan replied, and then he disappeared into Garcia's room.

Hotch ignored the seemingly worsening of Emily's condition. She kept her hand against the wall for balance and her breathing was quick as if trying to calm herself down. He argued with himself as to whether he should say something, antagonizing the situation further. After a moment he decided against it, thinking she might get mad. Instead he stood beside her and was there to help her if she needed it. "You ready to see Rossi?" He asked casually as Emily's face suddenly went pale and her eyes unfocused.

Emily fought hard to concentrate on the floor as it tilted beneath her. _Come on Emily, keep it together. You're okay. _Her head suddenly felt light and her vision blurred. She steadily began to fall to the floor as unconsciousness gradually overtook her.

"Emily?" Hotch called to her, catching her just before she hit the ground. "I need a nurse!" He yelled before looking back to Emily. In his arms he cradled her gently, "Emily? Emily?"

The unconscious state didn't last long as Emily heard her name, sounding in her ears. She felt a familiar warmth, embracing her, "Aaron?"

"I'm here Emily." Hotch was on his knees, holding the upper half of her body in his arms.

"Something's wrong." Emily told him wearily.

Hotch kissed her forehead, "Everything will be okay. Help is on the way."

A nurse finally came to Hotch's aid and Emily was taken to be assessed.

An hour later Emily was sitting on the edge of a gurney behind a curtain. _What's wrong with me? Do I have a disease? Cancer maybe? Am I going to die? After all this and finally finding someone I can spend the rest of my life with I'm going to die. _

Hotch was waiting for her in the waiting room. _I hope she is okay. I shouldn't have ignored it; I should've had the nurse check her out sooner, now it might be too late. Am I going to lose her?_

Emily was startled when a nurse finally came walking in. There was a very noticeable smile on her face. "What is it?" Emily asked.

"Your blood results are in." The nurse told her.

"Do I have cancer?" Emily asked, thinking the absolute worse, just wanting to know already. She couldn't stand waiting anymore.

"You're going to have a baby."

Emily's jaw dropped and her hands covered her stomach. "Are you sure?"

"We will have you do a pregnancy test just to be on the safe side, but at this point there is little doubt."

The nurse had been familiar with Emily, the agents and what has recently happened. She walked up to Emily and said, "Ms. Prentiss it's about time you had some good news."

"Could you get Aaron for me?" She said barely above a whisper, overwhelmed with emotion.

"Right away."

It was expected that both and Hotch and Emily would have such grim thoughts, especially of death. They never once thought about being pregnant, yes there had been a couple of nights of passionate love making, but it never seemed to outweigh the recovery at hand for themselves and for the members of their team.

Hotch was waiting by the window, when the nurse came to get him. "Mr. Hotchner, Ms. Prentiss would like to see you."

Hotch wasted no time and quickly followed. "How is she?"

"I'll let her tell you." The nurse said with a smile. Once they reached the appropriate section where Emily was assessed the nurse pointed, "She is right behind the second curtain."

Hotch wasted no time in saying thank you and stepped behind the appropriate curtain. There she was, sitting on the edge of the bed, her feet dangling and both hands covering her stomach. Her eyes were welled with tears and her cheeks stained with the ones that had already fallen. She was calm though and her breathing steady. Hotch took a few slow steps to her gurney and stood in front of her. By the look on her face and positioning of her hands he knew, "Are you?"

Emily nodded her head.

Hotch took a deep breath, there were no words to describe what he was feeling or what he wanted to say to her.

"I'm perfect, everything is perfect." Emily was telling herself and Hotch. Something changed and she suddenly felt stronger. She sniffled drying up her tears and stood to her feet. As she slid off the bed, Hotch guided her as if she was fragile, "I'm okay Aaron. I can walk."

"But shouldn't you rest or something. You shouldn't be walking yet."

"It's okay. I hadn't eaten all morning and my blood pressure was a little low. It was a combination of those two things that made me feel nauseated and dizzy, besides being pregnant of course. The nurse made me drink two orange juices and eat some crackers. She also gave me this sprite to go and a prescription of Zofran for the morning sickness."

"So you're okay to walk?"

"Yes. I'd like to go see Rossi and then we can worry about all this later."

Hotch was calming down a little bit, "Okay, but after you see Rossi were going to go eat a good and healthy lunch, afterwards were going to make an appointment with your doctor."

"Fair enough." Emily took a few steps, "Are you happy about all this?"

"I couldn't be happier, but it seems we have switched roles."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"You now seem very calm and me on the other hand I'm worried."

Emily smiled, "You right. This is the first time I've felt that everything is going to be okay and it will be, as long as I have you."

Hotch and Emily shared a heartfelt hug and then meandered to Rossi's room. The doctor just happened to be walking out when they arrived. "Is everything okay?" Emily asked.

"Yes, he is just resting." The doctor replied.

"Can I still go in?"

"Of course Ms. Prentiss."

"Thank you." Emily waited for the doctor to leave then turned to Hotch, "If you don't mind I'd like to go in alone."

"I'll be right out here." Hotch was quiet and just before Emily disappeared into Rossi's room he said, "I love you Emily."

Emily grinned and looked lovingly at him, sharing her new found comfort with just one look. "I love you too." Emily turned around and walked into Rossi's room. She took a seat in the empty chair and grabbed his hand. His breathing was slightly labored but efficient. His abdomen had taken the brunt of the blow, when the car struck him. He had some broken ribs and a punctured lung that was in the process of healing. The day of the accident he obtained a concussion that later turned out to be non-life threatening. The force of the impact had caused his heart to stop beating requiring the use of an AED which in turn saved his life.

"Emily?"

"Rossi, I thought you were asleep."

"I just fake it so they don't poke more holes in me." He said wearily. Rossi saw Emily starting to cry, "Don't do that."

"It should have been me." She said.

"Don't blame yourself and I'd do it again in a heartbeat." Rossi tried to assure her, hoping what he said would lessen the guilt.

"What would we do without you?" Emily asked.

"This whole family of ours would fall apart." Rossi halfheartedly joked through the pain.

"You're kind of like the grandpa." Emily said, thinking of her baby.

"I'm not that old." Rossi told her.

"So you don't want to be a grandpa?"

"Yeah that would be nice but I don't have any kids, you know that."

"What about us? You consider us as your family right?"

Rossi was looking a little more concerned and couldn't quite place where Emily was going with this. "Yes."

"So if one of us had a kid you'd be like a grandpa."

"I guess so." Rossi hadn't quite made the connection; things were still turning a little slow since waking up.

Emily continued with a heartfelt spill of feelings she had never shared before, but felt comfortable sharing with Rossi. "I never had much of a dad growing up. Dads are supposed to be there for you, care for you and protect you. You Rossi have done that for me and if you want to, here in about nine months give or take you could be a real grandpa. That is if you want to."

"You mean you and Aaron?"

Emily nodded.

"I'd be honored." Rossi felt his heart swell with pride.

Emily thought back to the first days of Harvey, when he was beating her. Amidst all those bad memories, it was the caring people in them that made them better. "Thank you for what you did for me. You didn't just save me literally but you found me when I was lost and took me in. You were the first one to take me to the hospital. I'll never forget that."

Rossi was at a loss for words and just let the moment linger. Through so many marriages and all those years of trying to have a family he found one, unexpectedly, not just through Emily but in the team as a whole.

Emily continued smiling and said, "If you like I can stay until you go to sleep."

"I'd like that." He said.

Emily squeezed his hand, letting him know she was there as he closed his eyes. For the first time in over a year, things were finally starting to come together and the team was forming a real family. No un-sub or amount of bad luck that stormed their way would break them apart. The proof was already there, look at all the good that come out of one bad relationship, one relationship Emily would never dwell on, ever again.

* * *

_There you have it! It's all over! Thanks again! :)_


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